How did the chloroplast get its name?

source of image: http://gcse.wemew.org/data/Plant_cell.png

Years before the advent of powerful microscopes and other techniques for visualization of cells, simple microscopes only showed large cell organelles. One of the largest organelles is the chloroplast and microscopists simply used descriptive terms to explain what they saw.

Thus, chloroplast simply means “green particle” because that is how it appears under the microscope. In the same manner, leucoplast means “white particle” and vacuole is an "empty space or small cavity".

Chloroplast

Source of image: http://www.helpsavetheclimate.com/chloroplast1.gif

Today, we will talk about the other energy generating organelle in cells, the chloroplast. We will also start with its structure and cover its function in future posts.

The chloroplast is much bigger than the mitochondrion. Just like the mitochondrion, it also has both an outer and an inner membrane that are separated by an intermembrane space. However, it still has a 3rd membrane which consists of flattened sacs called thylakoids. These thylakoids may be stacked together and form the grana (sing. granum) or may be unstacked and form the stroma thylakoids.

Chloroplast just like the mitochondrion also has its own DNA, mRNA, and ribosomes. These are located in the stroma.