Question

Distinguish between leucoplast and chromoplast.

Answer 1

Chloroplast are green coloured organelles present in the leaves of the plants which help in conducting the process of photosynthesis. Leucoplast and chromoplast are two types of chloroplast.

Complete answer:
Both the term leucoplast and chromoplast are related to defining colours. Both of these are also intracellular organelles found in plant cells. However, this very similarity ends.

Leucoplast	Chromoplast
The term “Leuco” indicates a lack of colour.	Chromoplasts, as the name suggests, are plastids that contain several pigments.
They are colourless organelles, whose main function is for the storage of nutrients like starch granules, oils, and proteins.	These pigments range from yellow to red; they do not contain any green pigments.
They are well-rounded organelles, lacking pigments, and therefore located mainly in non-photosynthetic parts of the plant.	Unlike leucoplasts, chromoplasts are very irregular in shape.
They are found in stems, and roots. They also have the peculiar quality of being able to convert into other kinds of plastids.	They are found in very visible parts of the plants including the flowers and fruits.
They have no role in attracting animals to the plant	They have a role in attracting animals to the plant.
They have no major role in pollination and seed dispersal.	They have a major role in pollination and seed dispersal.
It has a role in storage of starch or oil.	It has no role in storage of starch or oil.

Note: One very important plastid found in photosynthetic plants is the chloroplasts. These are the organelles without which light energy would not be trapped and converted into chemical energy. The plastid can be divided into three different types based on the presence or absence of different pigments:
i) Chloroplasts - They are green coloured due to presence of chlorophyll and aid in photosynthesis.
ii) Leucoplast - They are colourless plastids and are found in the storage organs.
iii) Chromoplasts - They are non photosynthetic plastids and are variously coloured such as orange, brown but except green.