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.
Paramylon is made in the pyrenoidsofEuglena.[1] 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.[2]
^Calvayrac, R.; Laval-Martin, D.; Briand, J.; Farineau, J. (1981). "Paramylon synthesis by Euglena gracilis photoheterotrophically grown under low O2 pressure". Planta. 153 (1): 6–13. doi:10.1007/BF00385311. PMID24276700. S2CID1981170.
^Monfils, A. K.; Triemer, R. E.; Bellairs, E. F. (2011). "Characterization of paramylon morphological diversity in photosynthetic euglenoids (Euglenales, Euglenophyta)". Phycologia. 50 (2): 156. doi:10.2216/09-112.1. S2CID85569364.
