Rubisco

//ruːˈbiskoʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An enzyme (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) which catalyzes both the fixing of atmospheric carbon dioxide during photosynthesis (and for a few chemioautotrophic bacteria) and the reverse process of photorespiration. uncountable

    "To turn light into food takes several steps, but the key is an extremely inefficient enzyme called RuBisCO."

  2. 2
    Alternative form of Rubisco. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
  3. 3
    Alternative form of Rubisco. alt-of, alternative, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
carboxydismutase

Example

More examples

"To turn light into food takes several steps, but the key is an extremely inefficient enzyme called RuBisCO."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From RuBisCO

Etymology 2

Coined in 1979 by David Eisenberg, from r(ib)u(lose) + bis(phosphate) + c(arboxylase) + o(xygenase). Coinage was in 1979 at a seminar honoring the retirement of the early, prominent RuBisCO researcher, Sam Wildman, and also alluded to the snack food trade name "Nabisco" in reference to Wildman's attempts to create an edible protein supplement from tobacco leaves.

Related phrases

carbon dioxide

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.