Chromoplast Definition

Any of the pigment plastids that are involved in pigment production and storage.

Plastids are organelles that play a role in food production and storage.

They can be present in photosynthetic eukaryotes’ cells.

Plastids in plants can take the following forms: chloroplasts, chromoplasts, gerontoplasts, and leucoplasts.

Certain plastids have the capacity to switch between various forms.

During the ripening of a fruit, chloroplasts re-differentiate into chromoplasts, for example.

Chromoplasts are plastids that have pigments generated and stored inside them that give them colour.

Fruits, flowers, roots, and senescent leaves all contain them.

Apart from chlorophyll, the existence of pigments is linked to the colour of various plant organs.

Under an electron microscope, the structural appearance of chromosomes varies.

They are classified into five different types:

(1) globular,

(2) crystalline,

(3) fibrillar,

(4) tubular, 

(5) membranous.

Some chromoplasts, however, may be more difficult to define when their structure is more complex, such as those seen in tomatoes that seem both membranous and crystalline.

To distinguish them from the colourless plastids, the leucoplasts, chloroplasts are sometimes considered a subclass of chromoplasts.

Chloroplasts, on the other hand, are distinguished from chromoplasts because they are primarily involved in photosynthesis rather than the production and storage of colour.