Previously, it was believed that chloroplasts—light-capturing structures essential to plant cells—could not function within animal cells.
Red algae chloroplasts were placed into cultured hamster cells, which were then analyzed with imaging techniques like confocal and electron microscopy.This fluorescence image shows chloroplasts successfully incorporated into the hamster cells, with other features of the animal cell also highlighted .Japanese researchers have achieved a breakthrough by inserting energy-generating chloroplasts from algae into hamster cells, allowing these animal cells to photosynthesize.
“As far as we know, this is the first reported detection of photosynthetic electron transport in chloroplasts implanted in animal cells,” said Professor Sachihiro Matsunaga of the University of Tokyo, corresponding author of the research paper. These clams harbor algae that use chloroplasts to photosynthesize, providing oxygen and food to their host. Inspired by such natural relationships, the researchers explored whether animal cells could functionally incorporate chloroplasts themselves.
“However, what we found was that they continued to function for up to two days, and that the electron transport of photosynthetic activity occurred.” he added. This electron transport is essential for the chemical energy production needed in plants and algae, suggesting that the chloroplasts were indeed working within their animal cell hosts.
Chloroplasts Photoynthesis Tissue Engineering
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