Paramylon

Paramylon is a carbohydrate similar to starch. The chloroplasts found in Euglena contain chlorophyll which aids in the synthesis of carbohydrates to be stored as starch granules and paramylon.

Overview

Paramylon is made in the pyrenoids of Euglena.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The euglenoids have chlorophylls a and b and they store their photosynthate in an unusual form called paramylon starch, a β-1,3 polymer of glucose. The paramylon is stored in rod like bodies throughout the cytoplasm, called paramylon bodies, which are often visible as colorless or white particles in light microscopy. Their shape is often characteristic of the Euglena species that produces them.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Paramylon is also reportedly made in granuales by Pavlovophyceae haptophytes.<ref name="z566">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Paramylon was named and first described in detail by Johann Gottlieb in 1850 based on Gottlieb's scientific exchange with Ludwig Karl Schmarda.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

• Phytoglycogen