Question

Explain the types of chloroplasts.

Answer 1

Hint: Chloroplasts are the type of plastids that contain the chlorophyll pigment. Due to this reason, they are also known as green plastids. Moreover, chloroplasts are associated with the process of photosynthesis.

Complete answer: Chloroplasts are a type of plastid. The Plastids were classified by Schimper into three categories as given below –
a. Leucoplasts
b. Chromoplasts
c. Chloroplasts
a. Leucoplasts – They are the colorless plastids. They are present mostly in the underground parts of the plants like roots, underground stems, etc. They are further classified into three types based on the type of food they store. These three types are –
i. Amyloplast – They are the leucoplasts in which the food is stored in the form of starch.
ii. Aleuroplast – They are the leucoplasts in which the food is stored in the form of proteins.
iii. Elaioplast – They are the leucoplasts in which the food is stored in the form of fats.
b. Chromoplasts – They are the colored plastids. These plastids have colors other than green. Due to this reason, they contain pigments other than chlorophyll like carotenes, xanthophylls, etc.
c. Chloroplast - They are the organelle which conduct photosynthesis in plants. They convert light energy into chemical energy. Chloroplasts are green plastids. They contain chlorophyll and other types of pigments. The chlorophyll pigment of the chloroplasts is mainly concerned with photosynthesis. Moreover, the chloroplast is a double membranous, semi-autonomous cell organelle.
Thus, based on the above information we can conclude that the types of plastids are leucoplasts, chromoplasts, and chloroplasts. Therefore, chloroplasts are a type of plastid. They do not have any further type of their own.

Note: Plastids are the cell organelles that are only present in the plant cells. They are double-membranous structures. They are described to be like the prokaryotic photosynthetic cells inside the eukaryotic cells. Plastids are semi-autonomous cell organelles. They are the largest cell organelles of the plant cells. They are endosymbiotic in nature.