The Plastid Skeleton: A Source Of Ideas In The Nano Range

All life on earth relies on the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis, in which the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed and oxygen (O-2) is released. The green parts of plants are capable of performing this reaction. This is where we find chlorophyll, the green pigment that captures sunlight. Chlorophyll and all components of the conversion process do not exist freely in the plant cells, but are located in certain "reaction spaces," the chloroplasts. These are part of what are called organelles, small reaction spaces within the cell that are separated from other cell components by a double membrane of lipids and proteins.