Comparative biochemistry of CO2 fixation and the evolution of autotrophy

Carbon dioxide fixation is a polyphyletic trait that has evolved in widely separated prokaryotic branches. The three principal CO2-assimilation pathways are (i) the reductive pentose-phosphate cycle, i. e. the Calvin-Benson cycle; (ii) the reductive citric acid (or Arnon) cycle; and (iii) the net synthesis of acetyl-CoA from CO/CO2, or Wood pathway. Sequence analysis and the comparative biochemistry of these routes suggest that all of them were shaped to a considerable extent by the evolutionary recruitment of enzymes. Molecular phylogenetic trees show that the Calvin-Benson cycle was a relatively late development in the (eu)bacterial branch, suggesting that some form(s) of carbon assimilat…