Typically, plants rely on the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to usable organic matter for growth. Although this cycle is the main pathway for carbon fixation in all plants on Earth, it is surprisingly inefficient—losing one third of carbon in the cycle when synthesizing the molecule acetyl–coenzyme A (CoA) to generate lipids, phytohormones, and metabolites. Plants also lose carbon during photorespiration, which limits their growth. This is largely due to the inefficiency of an enzyme called RuBisCO.