Plant Physiology & Development The Oxygen Plants Release Does Not Come from CO₂—Tracing How Water Becomes O₂
The O₂ released by oxygenic photosynthesis comes from water, not CO₂. From the 1941 ¹⁸O experiments to the Mn₄CaO₅ cluster, Kok cycle and the 2026 structural evidence for O6 in S₃, this article traces how plants make molecular oxygen from water.