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 pea aphid is not a true autotroph as it cannot fix carbon into organic compounds, despite having light-capturing pigments from fungi via HGT that allow for increased ATP production. True autotrophs like plants have structures like chloroplasts for photosynthesis, which aphids lack. Their pigments provide energy advantages but do not change their primary nutritional mode.

Step-by-step explanation:

Is the Pea Aphid a True Autotroph?

Despite the pea aphid's unique ability to synthesize light-capturing pigments in its exoskeleton and producing more ATP when exposed to sunlight, it is not considered a true autotroph. True autotrophs can fix carbon and create their own food via photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, processes that typically involve converting inorganic carbon into organic molecules.

While pea aphids have acquired the capability to make pigments through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from fungi and these pigments allow them to capture more energy from sunlight, resulting in higher ATP levels, they do not have the necessary structures, such as chloroplasts, nor do they fix carbon to be classified as autotrophs. They rely on consuming other organisms, such as plant phloem, for their carbon-based nourishment.

Carotenoids are pigments responsible for the red coloration in pea aphids that absorb certain wavelengths of light. While having light-capturing pigments does increase their ATP production, potentially giving them an energetic edge, it is not equivalent to the autotrophic process of making organic compounds from inorganic sources. The increased fitness of red aphids in some environments, due to greater resistance to insecticides, does not shift their fundamental mode of nutrition from heterotrophy to autotrophy.

Answer 2

The correct answer is D

Step-by-step explanation:

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.