Question:easy

Pyrenoids are

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Pyrenoids are starch-forming centers in chloroplasts of green algae.
Updated On: Jul 18, 2026
  • Food storage bodies in Rhodophyceae
  • Food storage bodies in Chlorophyceae
  • Food storage bodies in Phaeophyceae
  • Food storage bodies in Cyanophyceae
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

This question checks where pyrenoids sit among the algal groups and what job they do. A pyrenoid is a small proteinaceous body inside a chloroplast that collects the sugar made during photosynthesis and packs it away as starch.

  1. Food storage bodies in Rhodophyceae: Red algae store their reserve food as floridean starch scattered in the cytoplasm, not inside a pyrenoid, so this pairing is wrong.
  2. Food storage bodies in Chlorophyceae: Green algae are the classic group where pyrenoids sit inside the chloroplast and build up starch grains around themselves. This is the textbook pairing.
  3. Food storage bodies in Phaeophyceae: Brown algae keep their reserves as laminarin and mannitol, again without using pyrenoids for storage in the same way, so this option fails.
  4. Food storage bodies in Cyanophyceae: Blue green algae are prokaryotes and have no true chloroplast at all, so they cannot host a chloroplast bound pyrenoid.

Since a pyrenoid is by definition a chloroplast structure, and only green algae are described as commonly having chloroplast bound starch storing pyrenoids, Chlorophyceae is the right group.

Let's summarize:

  • A pyrenoid sits inside a chloroplast and stores starch.
  • Rhodophyceae and Phaeophyceae store food differently (floridean starch, laminarin and mannitol).
  • Cyanophyceae lack chloroplasts entirely.

So the correct answer is food storage bodies in Chlorophyceae.

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