Hatch-Slack pathway


Hatch-Slack pathway

[′hach ′slak ′path‚wā] (biochemistry) A metabolic cycle involved in the non-light-requiring phase of photosynthesis in certain plants having specific metabolic and anatomical modifications in their mesophyll and bundle sheath cells which facilitate the temporary fixation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into four-carbon organic acid; these acids are next broken down to three-carbon organic acids plus CO2 in bundle sheath cells, where this freed CO2 is then fixed into carbohydrates in a normal Calvin cycle pathway.