User:Dxzc65/sandbox

History of C3/C4 Photosynthesis Research
In the late 1940s, the details of carbon assimilation in photosynthetic reactions were elucidated by the work of American scientists Melvin Calvin, Andrew Benson, and James Bassham. Their research at the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley utilized the radioactive isotope carbon-14 to track the movement of carbon to identify intermediates in sugar production. They first identified the C3 carbon assimilation pathway in the green algae Chlorella. The pathway was named for the fact that carbon dioxide (CO2) is initially fixed into a 3-carbon molecule called 3-phosphoglyceric acid (PGA). For his pioneering work in understanding carbon in photosynthesis, Melvin Calvin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961, and the C3 cycle became known as the Calvin Cycle, or alternatively the Calvin-Benson Cycle or the Calvin-Benson-Bassham Cycle.

Before the details of the C4 carbon assimilation pathway were fully described, several studies hinted that the Calvin Cycle may not be representative of all plant species. Many tropical grasses, particularly sugar cane on Hawaiian plantations, were noted for their differences in leaf anatomy, water efficiency, and photosynthetic rate that did not fit predictions based on the Calvin Cycle. This prompted