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Costasiella kuroshimae is a selective feeder of algae from the genus Avrainvillea, from which it sequesters chloroplasts into its own cells, retaining them for short-term photosynthesis. Even in the absence of active photosynthesis, chloroplasts provide a nutrient storage or "larder" that facilitates the survival of the slug without food for an ...
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.
Another unclear step in the process is how the chloroplasts are protected from digestion, and how they adapt to their new position in animal cells without the membranes that would control their environment in the algae. [9] However it is achieved, kleptoplasty is an important strategy for many genera of Placobranchacea.
The second, Sacoglossa, removes chloroplasts from macroalgae when feeding and sequesters them into their digestive tract at which point they are called kleptoplasts. [49] Whether these kleptoplasts maintain their photosynthetic capabilities depends on the host species ability to digest them properly. [ 50 ]
A digestive tubule cell of the sea slug Elysia clarki, packed with chloroplasts taken from green algae. C = chloroplast, N = cell nucleus. Electron micrograph: scale bar is 3 μm. Kleptoplasty or kleptoplastidy is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a single-cell green alga about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims with two flagella.It has a cell wall made of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, a large cup-shaped chloroplast, a large pyrenoid, and an eyespot apparatus that senses light.
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Chlorophytes are eukaryotic organisms composed of cells with a variety of coverings or walls, and usually a single green chloroplast in each cell. [4] They are structurally diverse: most groups of chlorophytes are unicellular, such as the earliest-diverging prasinophytes, but in two major classes (Chlorophyceae and Ulvophyceae) there is an evolutionary trend toward various types of complex ...