The slug digests the rest of the cell but keeps the chloroplasts—the plant organelles responsible for photosynthesis—and distributes these green orbs through its branched gut.

Observation under a powerful microscope confirmed that each stolen chloroplast was indeed wrapped in just such a membrane. The researchers then investigated what the sea slugs do with the kleptosomes.

Solar-Powered Slug Steals Chloroplasts and Stores Them for Emergency Food A certain species of sea slug steals chloroplasts from algae and houses its contraband in special organelles that it can ...

A certain species of sea slug steals chloroplasts from algae and houses its contraband in special organelles that it can raid for food in times of need ...

A fluorescence image shows chloroplasts (magenta) successfully incorporated into the hamster cells, with other features of the animal cells also highlighted: nuclei are in light blue, and ...

Our results demonstrate that the interaction between OR and TCP14 in the nucleus leads to repression of chloroplast biogenesis in etiolated seedlings and provide new insights into the regulation of ...

This fluorescence image shows chloroplasts (magenta colored) successfully incorporated into the hamster cells, with other features of the animal cell also highlighted (nuclei in light blue and ...

Chloroplasts, the parts of cells that allow plants and algae to photosynthesize, are thought to have originated more than 1 billion years ago, when photosynthetic cyanobacteria lived symbiotically ...

The ability of plants to convert sunlight into food is an enviable superpower. Now, researchers have shown they can get animal cells to do the same thing. Photosynthesis in plants and algae is ...

Photosynthesis In Animal Cells Achieved For The First Time Using Implanted Chloroplasts The researchers are now calling these plant-animal hybrids "planimal" cells.