Fractionation of carbon isotopes in oxygenic photosynthesis values more similar to C3 plants. In contrast to terrestrial plants, where CO diffusion in air is relatively fast and typically not limiting, diffusion of dissolved CO in water is considerably slower and can often limit carbon fixation in phytoplankton. As gaseous CO is dissolved into aqueous CO, it is fractionated by both kinetic and equilibrium effects that are temperature-dependent. Relative to plants, the dissolved CO source for phytoplankton can be enriched in C by about 8‰ from atmospheric CO. Isotope fractionation of C by phytoplankton photosynthesis is affected by the diffusion of extracellular aqueous CO into the cell, the
Photosynthesis allowing carbon fixation to 3-phosphoglycerate by RuBisCO. Sixteen thousand species of plants use CAM. Cyanobacteria possess carboxysomes, which increase the concentration of around RuBisCO to increase the rate of photosynthesis. An enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, located within the carboxysome releases CO from the dissolved hydrocarbonate ions (HCO). Before the CO diffuses out it is quickly sponged up by RuBisCO, which is concentrated within the carboxysomes. HCO ions are made from CO outside the cell by another carbonic anhydrase and are actively pumped into the cell by a membrane protein. They cannot cross the membrane as they are charged, and within the