iBT TOEFL Topic Vocabulary Breakthrough Unit 054

iBT TOEFL Topic Vocabulary Breakthrough Unit 054
Author: Li Xiaolai

54. Plant cells have all the components of animal cells several other added features, including chloroplasts, a central vacuole, and a cell wall. Chloroplasts convert light energy — typically from the Sun — into the sugar glucose, a form of chemical energy, in a process known as photosynthesis. Chloroplasts, like mitochondria, possess a circular chromosome and prokaryote-like ribosomes, which manufacture the proteins that the chloroplasts typically need. The vacuole, a membranous bag, crowds the cytoplasm and organelles to the edges of the cell. The central vacuole stores water, salts, sugars, proteins, and other nutrients. In addition, it stores the blue, red, and purple pigments that give certain flowers their colors.

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