What is "carboxysome"

n. A bacterial organelle that contains enzymes involved in carbon fixation.

Carboxysomes are bacterial organelles consisting of polyhedral protein shells filled with the enzyme Ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase ( RuBisCO) -the predominant enzyme in carbon fixation and the rate limiting enzyme in the Calvin Cycle-and a carbonic anhydrase. Carboxysomes are thought to have evolved as a consequence of the increase in oxygen concentration in the ancient atmosphere; this is because oxygen is a competing substrate to carbon dioxide in the RuBisCO reaction. To overcome the inefficiency of RuBisCO, carboxysomes concentrate carbon dioxide inside the shell by means of co-localized carbonic anhydrase activity, which produces carbon dioxide from the bicarbonate that diffuses into the carboxysome. The resulting production of carbon dioxide near RuBisCO decreases the proportion of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate oxygenation and thereby avoids costly photorespiratory reactions. The surrounding shell provides a barrier to carbon dioxide loss, helping to increase its concentration around RuBisCO. The carboxysome is an essential part of the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM).

Carboxysomes are the best studied example of a bacterial microcompartment ( BMC), the term for functionally diverse organelles that are alike in having a protein shell.