Question
Suppose there were plants that had a high concentration of Chlorophyll-b, but lacked chlorophyll-a, would it carry out photosynthesis? Then why do plants have chlorophyll-b and other accessory pigments?
Solution
The plant having high concentration of chlorophyll-b but lacking chlorophyll-a will not carry out photosynthesis.
Chlorophyll-a molecules forms the reaction centre and acts as the main pigment molecules. The other pigments like chlorophyll-b and other photosynthetic pigments such as carotenoids and xanthophylls act as accessory pigments. Their role is to absorb the different wavelength of light and make the process of photosynthesis efficient. Carotenoids and xanthophylls also protect the chlorophyll molecule from photo-oxidation.
