Chloroplast: Difference between revisions
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Most living cells of so-called higher plants contain a number of tokens of a type of [[plastid]] called '''chloroplasts''', tiny, somewhat football-shaped, bacteria-sized [[organelle]]s, a few micrometers in size, up to several hundred in number in the green cells, each a separate | Most living cells of so-called higher plants contain a number of tokens of a type of [[plastid]] called '''chloroplasts''', tiny, somewhat football-shaped, bacteria-sized [[organelle]]s, a few micrometers in size, up to several hundred in number in the specialized green cells, each chloroplast a separate compartmented structure whose boundary consists of two membranes, the interior of the inner membrane of which contains a semiliquid matrix, called [[stroma]], suspending a system of membranes, called [[thylakoids]], whose membranes embed molecules of [[chlorophyll]] and other pigments that absorb energy from sunlight, initiating the physico-chemical process of [[photosynthesis]]. | ||
[[ | Other organisms thathouse chloroplasts and perform photosynthesis: | ||
* [[algae]], mostly single-celled, members of the plant kingdom; | |||
* [[diatoms]] and [[euglenids]], among the [[protist]]s, a mixed group of mostly single-celled [[Eukaryote|eukaryotic]] organisms that do not fall under the eukaryotic kingdoms of plants, fungi and animals. | |||
Revision as of 17:02, 6 January 2010
Most living cells of so-called higher plants contain a number of tokens of a type of plastid called chloroplasts, tiny, somewhat football-shaped, bacteria-sized organelles, a few micrometers in size, up to several hundred in number in the specialized green cells, each chloroplast a separate compartmented structure whose boundary consists of two membranes, the interior of the inner membrane of which contains a semiliquid matrix, called stroma, suspending a system of membranes, called thylakoids, whose membranes embed molecules of chlorophyll and other pigments that absorb energy from sunlight, initiating the physico-chemical process of photosynthesis.
Other organisms thathouse chloroplasts and perform photosynthesis:
- algae, mostly single-celled, members of the plant kingdom;
- diatoms and euglenids, among the protists, a mixed group of mostly single-celled eukaryotic organisms that do not fall under the eukaryotic kingdoms of plants, fungi and animals.