CHLOROPLAST

INTRODUCTION
STRUCTURE
ORIGIN
FUNCTIONS

➢ INTRODUCTION:
➢ Chloroplast is a type of plastid that is believed to be originated
from ancestral cyanobacteria .
➢ The first definitive description of a Chloroplast was given by
HUGO VON MOHL in 1837 as discrete bodies within the green
plant cell.
➢ CHLORO means green while PLAST meaning living.
➢ Chlorophyll pigments present in the chloroplasts imparts the
green color to the plants

➢ STRUCTUCTURE:
Chloroplast are commonly found in guard cells located in plant leaves,
roughly 1-2 micrometer thick and 5-7 micrometer in diameter.

• Chloroplast are oval-shaped and have two membranes; an outer

membrane and an inner membrane.
• The space within the inner membrane is the stroma , the dense
fluid within the chloroplast. This is the place where the conversion
from carbon dioxide to carbohdyrates takes place.
• The chloroplast comprises the following structures:
1 . A DOUBLE LAYERED ENVELOPE
2. A GRANULAR STROMA OR MATRIX
3. THYLAKOIDS
4. CHLOROPLAST DNA.
➢ ENVELOPE:
It composed of the three membrane ; that is OUTER MEMBRANE ,
INNER MEMBRANE SPACE AND INNER MEMBRANE, each of which
is 50-80 A thick.

The outer membrane is separated from the inner membrane by

an intermembrane space of about 10nm.

Across the double membrane envelope , exchange of molecules

between chloroplast and cytosol occurs.

➢ STROMA OR MATRIX:
The stroma fills most of the volume of the chloroplast.

It is a kind of gel-fluid phase that surrounds thylakoids.

It contain about 50% of the protein of chloroplast.

It contain Ribosome and DNA molecule.

The stroma is the site of CO2 fixation and where the synthesis of
sugar, starch, fatty acids and some proteins occurs.
➢ THYLAKOIDS:
The thylakoids consist of flattened and closed vesicles arranged as
membranous network.

It may be stacked like a neat pile of coins forming GRANA.

There may be 40-80 grana in the matrix of Chloroplast.

Thylakoids includes light-absorbing pigments, a complex chain of

electron carriers, and an ATP-synthesizing apparatus.

LIGHT REACTION occurs in thylakoids membranes.

➢ CHLOROPLAST DNA:
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is also known as plastid DNA
(ptDNA).
This is circular double stranded DNA molecule.
Chloroplast genome size is about 120-217kb
➢ FUNCTION OF CHLOROPLAST :
• The main function of chloroplast is PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Chloroplast produce energy through photosynthesis and
oxygen- release processes, which sustain plant growth and
crop yield
• It also helps to form protein and amino acid in the
presence of sunlight .

➢ THE PROCESS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

CONSISTS OF TWO TYPES:
1. Light reactions
2. Dark reaction
 ➢ LIGHT REACTION:

Light reaction which is also known as the hill reaction or light

dependent reactions use light energy to make two molecules
needed for the next stage of photosynthesis: that are the
energy storage molecule ATP and the reduced electron NADPH.
In plants, the light reaction take place in the thylakoid
membranes of organelles , i.e CHLOROPLAST.
The chemical equation in the light reaction of
photosynthesis is :
2H2O+2NADP+ +3ADP+3Pi→O2+ 2NADPH+3ATP
 ➢ DARK REACTION:

The dark reaction , also known as CALVIN CYCLE, is a light

independent process in which sugar molecules are formed from
the carbon dioxide and water molecule. The dark reaction
occurs in the stroma of the chloroplast , where they utilize the
products of the light reactions.
Glucose is the end product formed with the help of ATP and
NADPH.
ATP+NADPH+CO2→ADP+NADP+Glucose

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