Elaioplast

The elaioplast specifically is primarily responsible for the storage and metabolism of lipids,[5] among these roles, recent studies have shown that these organelles participate in the formation of terpenes and fatty acids.

[1] Lipids found inside elaioplasts mirror those synthesized by prokaryotes, chiefly triacylglycerol and sterol esters, which cluster into the droplets visible by microscope.

[7] Plastids are hypothesized to have originated with an endosymbiotic event between an ancient eukaryote and cyanobacterial ancestor more than 1 billion years ago, where the bacteria was engulfed by the other and retained where it served as the metabolic center for photosynthesis.

[1] Like most plastids, elaioplasts reproduce through binary fission independent from the division of the parent cell, a feature indicative of their bacterial ancestry.

[7] Paternal plastome contribution can also be prevented during pollen tube formation, where the plastids are separated from sperm cells as they fuse with the egg.