Question

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?

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.

Answer 2

Based on the information given we can not say pea aphid as an autotroph. Because pea aphid ability to produce ATP in the presence of sun is due to the light-capturing pigment that it gains from the genes transferred from fungi.

As pea aphid do not have any chloroplast and it cannot fix carbon so it is not a true autotroph. We can say it false autotroph because it can produce ATP in the presence of sunlight and can show increased production of ATP at the higher level of pigment.