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Chloroplast

Author: Nathan Lampson

 

Only plant cells and a select handful of other organisms are able to produce energy from sunlight.  The structure found inside plant cells and these organisms that allows them to absorb sunlight is called a chloroplast.

 

Chloroplasts are a green cell organelle that is instrumental in converting sunlight into carbohydrate energy.  Inside chloroplasts, a structure called a thylakoid is filled with a pigment called chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll is the reason plants appear green.  A stack of thylakoid structures inside a chloroplast is called a granum.

 

Without choroplasts, plants could not undergo photosynthesis and would be unable to produce energy from the sun.

Chloroplast