Structure of a typical higher-plant chloroplast. The green chlorophyll is contained in stacks of disk-like thylakoids.
Chloroplasts, containing thylakoids, visible in the cells of Ptychostomum capillare, a type of moss
A chloroplast (/ˈklɔːrəˌplæst,-plɑːst/)[1][2] is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in the energy-storage molecules ATP and NADPH while freeing oxygen from water in the cells. The ATP and NADPH is then used to make organic molecules from carbon dioxide in a process known as the Calvin cycle. Chloroplasts carry out a number of other functions, including fatty acid synthesis, amino acid synthesis, and the immune response in plants. The number of chloroplasts per cell varies from one, in unicellular algae, up to 100 in plants like Arabidopsis and wheat.
A chloroplast is characterized by its two membranes and a high concentration of chlorophyll. Other plastid types, such as the leucoplast and the chromoplast, contain little chlorophyll and do not carry out photosynthesis.
Chloroplasts are highly dynamic—they circulate and are moved around within plant cells, and occasionally pinch in two to reproduce. Their behavior is strongly influenced by environmental factors like light color and intensity. Chloroplasts, like mitochondria, contain their own DNA, which is thought to be inherited from their ancestor—a photosynthetic cyanobacterium that was engulfed by an early eukaryotic cell.[3] Chloroplasts cannot be made by the plant cell and must be inherited by each daughter cell during cell division.
With one exception (the amoeboid Paulinella chromatophora), all chloroplasts can probably be traced back to a single endosymbiotic event, when a cyanobacterium was engulfed by a eukaryote. Despite this, chloroplasts can be found in an extremely wide set of organisms, some not directly related to each other—a consequence of many secondary and even tertiary endosymbiotic events.
The word chloroplast is derived from the Greek words chloros (χλωρός), which means green, and plastes (πλάστης), which means "the one who forms".[4]
^Jones D (2003) [1917]. Roach P, Hartmann J, Setter J (eds.). English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 3-12-539683-2.
A chloroplast (/ˈklɔːrəˌplæst, -plɑːst/) is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal...
ribosomal proteins tRNAs nicotiana tabacum edit · image Chloroplast DNA Interactive gene map of chloroplast DNA from Nicotiana tabacum. Segments with labels...
Chloroplasts contain several important membranes, vital for their function. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have a double-membrane envelope, called the...
Chloroplast capture is an evolutionary process through which inter-species hybridization and subsequent backcrosses yield a plant with new genetic combination...
Thylakoids are membrane-bound compartments inside chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. They are the site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis...
photosynthetic pigment (accessory pigment; chloroplast pigment; antenna pigment) is a pigment that is present in chloroplasts or photosynthetic bacteria and captures...
collectively known as "algae" have unique organelles known as chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are thought to be descended from cyanobacteria that formed endosymbiotic...
between the inner membrane and the outer membrane of a mitochondrion or a chloroplast. It also refers to the space between the inner and outer nuclear membranes...
intracellular endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Examples of plastids include chloroplasts (used for photosynthesis); chromoplasts (used for synthesis and storage...
proven by British biochemist Robin Hill. He demonstrated that isolated chloroplasts would make oxygen (O2) but not fix carbon dioxide (CO2). This is evidence...
have primary chloroplasts derived from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Diatoms and brown algae are examples of algae with secondary chloroplasts derived from...
takes place in organelles called chloroplasts. A typical plant cell contains about 10 to 100 chloroplasts. The chloroplast is enclosed by a membrane. This...
episode of symbiogenesis with a cyanobacterium created the plants, with chloroplasts. Eukaryotic cells contain membrane-bound organelles such as the nucleus...
Pyrenoids are sub-cellular micro-compartments found in chloroplasts of many algae, and in a single group of land plants, the hornworts. Pyrenoids are associated...
bioenergetic organelles". Chloroplasts and mitochondria are energy-converting organelles in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. Chloroplasts in plant cells perform...
cells. They are non-pigmented, in contrast to other plastids such as the chloroplast. Lacking photosynthetic pigments, leucoplasts are located in non-photosynthetic...
A gerontoplast is a plastid that develops from a chloroplast during the senescing of plant foliage. Gerontoplast development is generally seen to be the...
prokaryotic organisms. The theory holds that mitochondria, plastids such as chloroplasts, and possibly other organelles of eukaryotic cells are descended from...
has one or two flat, rectangular and ribbon-shaped chloroplasts that fill the cell. Chloroplasts are able to twist in response to light conditions. The...
from proplastids that have not been exposed to light, and convert into chloroplasts upon exposure to light. They are usually found in stem and leaf tissue...
cell. Phototropins also regulate the movement of chloroplasts within the cell, notably chloroplast avoidance. It was thought that this avoidance serves...
kleptoplastidy is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host. The word is derived from Kleptes...
for molecular biology, especially studies of flagellar motility and chloroplast dynamics, biogenesis, and genetics. One of the many striking features...
chemiosmosis occurs in mitochondria and chloroplasts, as well as in most bacteria and archaea. For instance, in chloroplasts during photosynthesis, an electron...
are imported to the stromal compartment of chloroplasts from the cytosol by crossing the outer chloroplast membrane. The enzymatically active substrate...
A knockout moss is a kind of genetically modified moss. One or more of the moss's specific genes are deleted or inactivated ("knocked out"), for example...
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