Related papers: Rubisco function, evolution, and engineering
Rubisco, probably the most abundant protein in the biosphere, performs an essential part in the process of carbon fixation through photosynthesis thus facilitating life on earth. Despite the significant effect that Rubisco has on the…
Cyanobacteria sequester photosynthetic enzymes into microcompartments which facilitate the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugars. Geometric similarities between these structures and self-assembling viral capsids have inspired models that…
It is an open, but not unanswerable, question as to how much atmospheric CO2 is sequestered globally by vegetation fires. In this work I conceptualise the question in terms of the general CharXive Challenge, discuss a mechanism by which…
Many organisms repartition their proteome in a circadian fashion in response to the daily nutrient changes in their environment. A striking example is provided by cyanobacteria, which perform photosynthesis during the day to fix carbon.…
This note is intended to highlight the important role of black carbon produced from biomass burning in the global carbon cycle, and encourage further research in this area. Consideration of the fundamental physical chemistry of cellulose…
Consider a free-space settlement with a closed ecosystem. Controlling the habitat's carbon dioxide level is a nontrivial problem because the atmospheric carbon buffer per biosphere area is smaller than on Earth. Here we show that the…
It is widely believed that the carbonate-silicate cycle is the main agent to trigger deglaciations by CO$_2$ greenhouse warming on Earth and on Earth-like planets when they get in frozen state. Here we use a 3D Global Climate Model to…
How photosynthesis by Precambrian cyanobacteria oxygenated Earth's biosphere remains incompletely understood. Here it is argued that the oxic transition, which took place between approximately 2.3 and 0.5 Gyr ago, required a great…
The carbonic anhydrase II enzyme (CA II) is one of the most significant enzymes in nature, reversibly converting CO$_2$ to bicarbonate at a remarkable rate. The precise mechanism it uses to achieve this rapid turnover remains unclear due to…
Carbon mineralization in basaltic rocks may offer rapid, permanent \ce{CO2} storage, yet fundamental controls on reactive transport and precipitation patterns remain poorly understood. This study integrates flow-through experiments at…
Carbon can exist as isolated dumbbell, one-dimensional (1D) chain, 2D plane, and 3D network in carbon solids or carbon-based compounds, which attributes to its rich chemical binding way, including sp-, sp2-, and sp3-hybridized bonds. Sp2…
Ribosome is a molecular machine that polymerizes a protein where the sequence of the amino acid residues, the monomers of the protein, is dictated by the sequence of codons (triplets of nucleotides) on a messenger RNA (mRNA) that serves as…
The origin of life might be sparked by the polymerization of the first RNA molecules in Darwinian ponds during wet-dry cycles. The key life-building block ribose was found in carbonaceous chondrites. Its exogenous delivery onto the Hadean…
In nucleosynthesis three possible paths are known to bridge the mass gaps at A=5 and A=8. The primary path producing the bulk of the carbon in our Universe proceeds via the triple-alpha process He4(2alpha,gamma)C12. This process takes place…
CO2 hydrogenation to hydrocarbon refers to an indirect pathway of CO2 utilization. Among them, the conversion of CO2 with green H2 to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with high energy density has gained much attention. It offers a promising…
Metabolism displays striking and robust regularities in the forms of modularity and hierarchy, whose composition may be compactly described. This renders metabolic architecture comprehensible as a system, and suggests the order in which…
Anthropogenic activities have led to a substantial increase in carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas (GHG), contributing to heightened concerns of global warming. In the last decade alone CO2 emissions increased by 2.0 ppm/yr. globally. In…
CO$_2$ sequestration in subsurface reservoirs is important for limiting atmospheric CO$_2$ concentrations. However, a complete physical picture able to predict the structure developing within the porous medium is lacking. We investigate…
Carbon dioxide is a chemically active molecule that plays a vital role in Earth's ecosphere. CO$_2$ affects the acidity of seawater and has multiple negative effects on marine organisms. It is also a fundamental component of the…
The stability of Earth's climate on geological timescales is enabled by the carbon-silicate cycle that acts as a negative feedback mechanism stabilizing surface temperatures via the intake and outgas of atmospheric carbon. On Earth, this…