Rhodoplasts have a double membrane with an intermembrane space and phycobilin pigments organized into phycobilisomes on the thylakoid membranes, preventing their thylakoids from stacking. Some contain pyrenoids. Rhodoplasts have chlorophyll a and phycobilins for photosynthetic pigments; the phycobilin phycoerytherin is responsible for giving many red algae their distinctive red color. However, since they also contain the blue-green chlorophyll a and other pigments, many are reddish to purple from the combination. The red phycoerytherin pigment is an adaptation to help red algae catch more sunlight in deep water—as such, some red algae that live in shallow water have less phycoerytherin in their rhodoplasts, and can appear more greenish. Rhodoplasts synthesize a form of starch called floridean, which collects into granules outside the rhodoplast, in the cytoplasm of the red alga.
What makes red algae red?
the phycobilin phycoerytherin phycobilin phycoerytherin phycobilin phycoerytherin