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A chloroplast (/ ˈ k l ɔːr ə ˌ p l æ s t,-p l ɑː s t /) [1] [2] is a type of organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which capture the energy from sunlight and convert it to chemical energy and release oxygen .
Schematic of photosynthesis in plants. The carbohydrates produced are stored in or used by the plant. Composite image showing the global distribution of photosynthesis, including both oceanic phytoplankton and terrestrial vegetation. Dark red and blue-green indicate regions of high photosynthetic activity in the ocean and on land, respectively.
Oxygenic photosynthesis can be performed by plants and cyanobacteria; cyanobacteria are believed to be the progenitors of the photosystem-containing chloroplasts of eukaryotes. Photosynthetic bacteria that cannot produce oxygen have only one photosystem, which is similar to either PSI or PSII .
In anoxygenic photosynthesis, various electron donors are used. Cytochrome b 6 f and ATP synthase work together to produce ATP ( photophosphorylation ) in two distinct ways. In non-cyclic photophosphorylation, cytochrome b 6 f uses electrons from PSII and energy from PSI [ citation needed ] to pump protons from the stroma to the lumen .
Within the envelope membranes, in the region called the stroma, there is a system of interconnecting flattened membrane compartments, called the thylakoids.The thylakoid membrane is quite similar in lipid composition to the inner envelope membrane, containing 78% galactolipids, 15.5% phospholipids and 6.5% sulfolipids in spinach chloroplasts. [3]
The carriers in the electron transport chain use some of the electron's energy to actively transport protons from the stroma to the lumen. During photosynthesis, the lumen becomes acidic, as low as pH 4, compared to pH 8 in the stroma. [30] This represents a 10,000 fold concentration gradient for protons across the thylakoid membrane.
The name organelle comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as organs are to the body, hence organelle, the suffix -elle being a diminutive. Organelles are either separately enclosed within their own lipid bilayers (also called membrane-bounded organelles) or are spatially distinct functional units without a surrounding ...
These organisms perform photosynthesis through organelles called chloroplasts and are believed to have originated about 2 billion years ago. [1] Comparing the genes of chloroplast and cyanobacteria strongly suggests that chloroplasts evolved as a result of endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria that gradually lost the genes required to be free-living.