What are plastids ?Explain various types and their function?
Answers
Plant cells: Plastids: As previously mentioned, plastids are doubled membraned 'sac-like' organelles, generally involved in either the manufacture or storage of food. They include chloroplasts, chromoplasts and leucoplasts.
Plastids are double-membrane organelle which are found in the cells of plants and algae. Plastids are responsible for manufacturing and storing of food. These often contains pigments that are used in photosynthesis and different types of pigments that can change the color of the cell. Common Plastids – Chloroplasts.
Chloroplasts are small organelles inside the cells of plants and algae. They absorb light to make sugar in a process called photosynthesis. The sugar can be stored in the form of starch. Chloroplasts contain the molecule chlorophyll, which absorbs sunlight for photosynthesis.
Chromoplasts are plastids, heterogeneous organelles responsible for pigment synthesis and storage in specific photosynthetic eukaryotes. It is thought that like all other plastids including chloroplasts and leucoplasts they are descended from symbiotic prokaryotes.
Leucoplasts are a category of plastid and as such are organelles found in plant cells. They are non-pigmented, in contrast to other plastids such as the chloroplast. Lacking photosynthetic pigments, leucoplasts are not green and are located in non-photosynthetic tissues of plants, such as roots, bulbs and seeds.