Chrysolaminarin is a storage
polysaccharide typically found in
photosynthetic heterokonts. It is used as a carbohydrate food reserve by
phytoplankton such as
Bacillariophyta (similar to the use of
laminarin by
brown algae). Chrysolaminarin is stored inside the cells of these organisms dissolved in water and encapsuled in
vacuoles whose
refractive index increases with chrysolaminarin content. In addition,
heterokont algae use oil as a storage compound. Besides energy reserve, oil helps the algae to control their buoyancy. Chrysolaminarin is also the major storage polysaccharide of most
haptophyte algae. ==References==