EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The ability to photosynthesize is found in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. The most well-known examples are plants, as all but a very few parasitic or mycoheterotrophic species contain chlorophyll and produce their own food. Algae are the other dominant group of eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms.

Detailed explanation-2: -In eukaryotic cells, both the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis occur within chloroplasts-the light reactions in the thylakoid membrane and the dark reactions within the stroma.

Detailed explanation-3: -In all phototrophic eukaryotes, photosynthesis takes place inside a chloroplast, an organelle that arose in eukaryotes by endosymbiosis of a photosynthetic bacterium (see Unique Characteristics of Eukaryotic Cells).

Detailed explanation-4: -As primary producers, photosynthetic eukaryotes now dominate most terrestrial (e.g., embryophytes and green algae) and marine (e.g., diatoms, mixotrophic dinoflagellates, and coccolithophores) environments.