| Definition: |
A membranous cellular structure that bears the photosynthetic pigments in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. In cyanobacteria thylakoids are of various shapes and are attached to, or continuous with, the plasma membrane. In eukaryotes they are flattened, membrane-bounded disk-like structures located in the chloroplasts; in the chloroplasts of higher plants the thylakoids form dense stacks called grana. Isolated thylakoid preparations can carry out photosynthetic electron transport and the associated phosphorylation. |