The green pigment chlorophyll , a vital requirement of Photosynthesis that captures light for the process, is located in thylakoids which makes up stacks of grana which is plural for granum.The grana and stroma which is a fluid where reactions takes place and sugars are created. Both the stroma and grana make up a chloroplast, a feature in the leaf cell. The leaf where chloroplasts are mainly found is the primary site for Photosynthesis.
These thylakoids contain chlorophyll, which are sitting on & in the membrane of the thylakoids.Hence, we can say say that photosynthesis occurs on the thylakoid membrane.
The chloroplast Structure is very elaborate, so as to increase surface area to volume ratio. This will allow more chlorophyll to be packed into the thylakoid membrane.
Below is a 3D model of a chloroplast!
When absorbing light, chlorophyll absorbs strongly in the blue and red regions of the electromagnetic spectrum(EMS). It absorbs weakly in the green regions of the EMS because the green surface of the leaf will reflect green light.
Chlorophyll plays a big part in Photosynthesis. Aquatic organisms like Cyanobacteria which is bluish-green and normally found at volcanic areas have chlorophyll that allows them to photosynthesize too. Thus, all photosynthetic organisms are not plants. However, while some photosynthetic organisms are plants, all plants are not photosynthetic like Rafflesia, Indian Pipe and the Balanophora species.These plants usually depends on the fungus in the ground soil that takes the other photosynthetic plant's nutrients and fuses it cells into the these non photosynthetic plants.
Pic taken from GOOGLE IMAGES and info taken from Nicole's notes.
Pic taken from GOOGLE IMAGES and info taken from Nicole's notes.
Indian Pipe |
| Cyanobacteria |
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