Question

The process of removing the green color of the leaf is called__________.

Answer 1

Hint: Chloroplast is a green colour pigment that is responsible for giving green colour to the leaves. They are generally present in the chloroplast of the leaf cell. Removal of the chloroplast can cause them to lose their green colour and turn them pale white.

Complete answer:
Chloroplast is organelles that are present in the plant which performs the function of photosynthesis. They are mainly located in the palisade parenchyma of the mesophyll cells that are present in the leaves. They belong to a family called plastid. All the stems, leaves and the ripened fruits contain this pigment. But the leaves are the major source for the extracting of this pigment. It is needed for the process of photosynthesis to occur. The green to the leaves is given by chlorophyll pigment which resides in the chloroplasts.

Chloroplasts are found in the mesophyll cells of the leaves which are divided into the following compartments: an intermembrane space between the inner and outer membranes, the stroma and the thylakoid lumen. They contain a double membrane structure which is known as the chloroplast envelope. The chloroplast envelope contains an inner membrane and an outer membrane. Apart from it, there is a third membrane system which is called the thylakoid membrane.

Chromatography is the process in which the green colour of the leaves is removed. Through this process, the chlorophyll pigments are separated from the leaves through paper chromatography. It is done for the separation of a mixture by passing it through a medium like a filter paper through which different parts of the mixture move at different rates. This process works because different substances that are present in the mixture have different solubility degrees.

Note: Chlorophyll is like mitochondria and have evolved from endosymbiosis. Both these organelles are involved in generating metabolic energy for the organisms. The light energy from sunlight is converted into chemical energy to form carbohydrates during the process of photosynthesis. In spite of their own genetic system, most of the chloroplast proteins are encoded by the cell’s nuclear DNA.