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Question

Phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP) is the primary CO2 acceptor in :

A
C3 plants
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B
C4 plants
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C
C2 plants
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D
C3 and C4 plants
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Solution

The correct option is B C4 plants
In C4 plants, the primary CO2 acceptor is phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), a 3-carbon compound.

The enzyme responsible for this fixation is PEP carboxylase or PEPcase.

PEP undergoes carboxylation to form oxaloacetic acid (4-carbon compound).

As the first stable product formed during dark reaction is a 4-carbon compound, these plants are called C4 plants.

In C3 plants, RuBP is the primary CO2 acceptor and the first stable product formed is 3-PGA, a 3-carbon molecule. Hence, these plants are called C3 plants.

Unlike C3 plants, C4 plants have evolved to use a different means of carbon fixation in order to minimize losses from a process called photorespiration, also called the C2 cycle.

There are no plants in which only the C2 cycle takes place. The C2 cycle coexists with the C3 cycle in C3 plants.

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