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.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.