Chloroplasts Flashcards
What are chloroplasts?
Chloroplasts are organelles that carry out photosynthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have an outer membrane and an inner membrane. The are highly compartmentalized.
What is photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis defines a series of complex chemical reactions that convert solar energy into energyrich molecules the cell can use.
What is special about chloroplasts?
Chloroplasts also have stacks of disc-shaped sacs called thylakoids within the inner membrane and they have their own DNA and ribosomes. Scientists have hypothesized that they, too, were originally free-living prokaryotes that where taken in by larger cells.
What do thylakoids contain?
Thylakoids contain chlorophyll, a light-absorbing molecule that gives plants their green color and plays a key role in photosynthesis.
Where can we find chloroplasts?
Chloroplasts are present in plant cells, but they are found in the cells of certain other organisms ad well, including green algae.
Which role plays chlorophyll in photosynthesis?
Chlorophyll absorbs some of the energy in visible light.
REMEMBER!
Chloroplasts convert solar energy in to chemical energy through photosynthesis!
