Do All Plant Cells Contain Chloroplasts?
All plants feature chloroplasts within their cells, though they are not present in every cell of the plant. Chloroplasts are organelles that have a green pigment that make the plant look green.
Chloroplasts are what help the plant to capture energy from the sun to be converted into food, along with chlorophyll. The process by which a plant does this is called photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, the plant will convert the energy from sunlight into sugars that are used as food by the plant. Because of this special organelle, plants are the only organisms in the whole world that are able to make their own food. No animals contain chloroplasts in their cells. For this reason, they have somewhat of an advantage over animals when it comes to survival.
Not all of the cells in a plant have chloroplasts in them. This is because only the ones in which photosynthesis occurs will have chloroplasts. Their main role is to conduct photosynthesis. They work along with chlorophyll to store the energy from sunlight in the storage molecules that are known as ATP and NADPH. Then, the ATP and NADPH are used to make organic molecules from this energy, along with oxygen and water. Chloroplasts move around within the cell, and also can pinch in two to reproduce themselves. They are adaptable to their environment, as they are influenced easily by changes in the intensity and color of light.
