Dark Carbon Fixation in Germinating Seeds

Abstract

A process of dark carbon fixation in geminating seeds was described in 1961 by Duperon. His results were verified and extended to include over eight hundred other species. Many species were found to fix atmospheric carbon to a significant degree, and this ability was related to the stage of evolutionary advancement each species or family had reached. Several samples were chromatographed and the results interpreted. No known method of dark carbon fixation could account for the composition and labelling of these samples. Indications pointed to a system of carbon fixation related to photosynthesis. The sites of fixation lent support to this hypothesis.