The pea aphid, a type of insect, contains light-capturing pigments in its exoskeleton. Pea aphids gained the ability to synthesize these pigments from genes transferred from fungi. While pea aphids do not have chloroplasts or fix carbon, researchers have found that pea aphids with more pigments have higher levels of ATP than those with fewer pigments. Pea aphids also have been shown to increase production of ATP when exposed to sunlight. Based on this information, is the pea aphid a true autotroph?

Question

Biology

Darien Mclaughlin

12 July, 11:52

The pea aphid, a type of insect, contains light-capturing pigments in its exoskeleton. Pea aphids gained the ability to synthesize these pigments from genes transferred from fungi. While pea aphids do not have chloroplasts or fix carbon, researchers have found that pea aphids with more pigments have higher levels of ATP than those with fewer pigments. Pea aphids also have been shown to increase production of ATP when exposed to sunlight. Based on this information, is the pea aphid a true autotroph?

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Alexandria Cummings · Answer 1

The correct answer would be "no, we can not consider pea aphid as a true autotroph".

The true autotrophs are those which can manufacture their food (organic compounds) from simple elements like water and carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight.

As pea aphid is unable to fix carbon that means it is still dependent on other organisms for its nutrition.

Thus, it can not be considered as autotrophs.