Paramylon is a
carbohydrate similar to
starch. The
chloroplasts found in
Euglena contain
chlorophyll which aids in the synthesis of carbohydrates to be stored as starch granules and paramylon. Paramylon is made in the
pyrenoids of
Euglena. The euglenoids have chlorophylls a and b and they store their photosynthate in an unusual form called paramylon starch, a B-1,3 polymer of glucose. The paramylon is stored in rod like bodies throughout the cytoplasm, called paramylon bodies, which are often visible as colorless or white particles in light microscopy. Their shape is often characteristic of the
Euglena species that produces them.