Introduction

Abstract

Green eukaryotic plants contain chloroplasts in all cells performing photosynthesis. In other cells different plastids are present, but cells that are apoplastidic from the beginning are extremely rare in green plants. Just as plant cells cannot be understood without considering the plastids, so the plastids cannot be understood without considering the rest of the cell, especially the nucleus. As photosynthesis is a basic phenomenon of green plants, and as green plants are the ultimate food of all animals, the key role of chloroplasts is obvious. The dividing activity of proplastids and chloroplasts is the central subject of this book; for lack of knowledge, the behaviour of leukoplasts and chromoplasts can be touched on only briefly.