Fraction of atmosphere that is carbon dioxide

Value 0.04 %
Organism Biosphere
Reference Peterhansel C et al., Engineering photorespiration: current state and future possibilities. Plant Biol (Stuttg). 2013 Jul15(4):754-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1438-8677.2012.00681.x. p.754 left columnPubMed ID23121076
Primary Source Sharkey T.D. (1988) Estimating the rate of photorespiration in leaves. Physiologia Plantarum, 73, 147–152. DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3054.1988.tb09205.x
Comments "Rubisco, the enzyme catalysing carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation during oxygenic photosynthesis, is not completely capable of discriminating between its major substrate CO2 and molecular oxygen (O2). In the current atmosphere containing high amounts of O2 (21%) and still relatively low amounts of CO2 (0.04%), at 25°C approximately 35% of all reactions are oxygenation of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) instead of carboxylation (primary source)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 111056