Question

What would be most likely to happen to a plant that had working chloroplasts in its cells but had taken in a poison that kept mitochondria from working?
It would use its chloroplasts to do the work the mitochondria should have done.

It would have a hard time getting the energy out of molecules it made in photosynthesis.

It would have a difficult time gathering enough solar energy during photosynthesis.

It would not be affected since plants do not require mitochondria.

Answer 1

I think it would be the 2nd choice.
It would have a hard time getting the energy out of molecules that it made in photosynthesis.

I'm using a process of elimination here, because none of the other choices make sense.

The 1st choice can't be right, because chloroplasts and mitochondria each have their own jobs. They can't do one another's jobs. Not to my knowledge.

The 3rd choice can't be right, because if the plant has working chloroplasts, then the chloroplasts should be able to gather solar energy just fine.

The 4th choice can't be right, because plants need mitochondria. They need the mitochondria to convert sugar into energy.

Answer 2

No, so much no. Plants do not have mitochondria, ever, if they did they would convert sugar into carbon dioxide and that would be the opposite of what their chloraplasts just did.

A is wrong as chloraplasts would have to completely reverse their function to do this, which makes no sense.
B is wrong as it makes no sense in itself.
C is wrong as this toxin relates to the light cycle not at all.
Plants only have chloraplasts, they do NOT have mitochondria, the fourth answer is correct because of this.

If you want to piss off your professor tell them that because of the endosymbiotic theory and that chloraplasts and mitochondria have (vague) homology the toxin may effect the chloraplasts minimally. Otherwise, it is DEFINITELY D.

Answer 3

The term "mitochondria" itself was coined by Carl Benda in 1898.
Friedrich Meves, in 1904, made the first recorded observation of mitochondria in plants.

I'm sorry for quoting a wikipedia article. But it's true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondria

I'll even post a cross-section of a plant cell. You'll see that plant cells do have mitochondria.

Answer 4

Just about every Eukaryote has mitochondria. There are a couple of exceptions, but they're just weird microorganisms, and I think they have something that does the same job.