The Plant Cell - Plant Pigments

The Plant Cell, Plant Pigments

Protoplasts are the living part of the cells that don't have a cell wall. It is essential to isolate protoplasts from plant cells because they provide information about the cellular function of proteins normally expressed in other cell types1. The protoplast collected from the mesophyll had a smoother wall where the protoplasts were more visible and the vacuole was easy to spot. In contrast, the petal protoplasts had a rigid cell wall where basically the whole inside of the cell was a vacuole and the protoplasts were seen through the pink-shade of the vacuole. The tomato protoplast that was seen through the microscope showed that the pigment changed from yellow to red. Like an article on LiveStrong stated, tomatoes contain carotenoids, which was proven by the change of chromoplast pigment from yellow to red2.

Pollen is the male gamete found in plants and pollen germination is the process of fertilizing the egg3. The tube, once accepted by the stigma, elongated and grew from about 1 ocular meter to 9 ocular meters. The cytoplasmic streaming was not recorded therefore the speed measurement could not be calculated.

Pigments in the vacuole can change from yellow to red (carotenoids) or red to blue (anthocyanins)3. Observed in the vacuole pH of the morning glory and blue hibiscus, the colors under acidic conditions changed from blue/purple to a neon pink. When placed in the fumes of a basic solution, the color of the flowers changed to a green. The morning glory showed a more accentuated difference due to the thinness of the petal in contrast to the thickness of the blue hibiscus.

In the red cabbage experiment, the different pH used showed a variety of color changes. pH from 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 were used and the colors varied from pink, light purple, purple, blue, grey-blue, to teal. The original color was purple, which was seen as no change when pH 6 was used. The acidic solution of pH 2 turned the red cabbage pink, like the neon pink observed in the pigment of the morning glory in acidic conditions. The basic solution of pH 12 turned the red cabbage into a green/teal color. All the pH solutions were tested using a pH paper, and were accurate.

1. Faraco, M. (2011). One protoplast is not the other. Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan.

2. Khachik, F. (2002). "Experimental Biology and Medicine"; Chemistry, Distribution and Metabolism of Tomato Carotenoids and Their Impact on Human Health.

3. Hoffman, F. and Jackson, V. (2011). Developmental and Cell Biology Laboratory: Laboratory Manual. Department of Developmental and Cell Biology: University of California, Irvine.