What if our bodies can synthesize food like plants?

You may have to undergo photosynthesis thanks to chlorophyll in your mutant cells. But unlike plants, you will need more sunlight.

Plants can live mainly because of photosynthesis under sunlight. Also thanks to that light source, green plants always have the necessary nutrients to grow.

They can take nutrients from the ground through the roots and can also absorb them through photosynthesis. However, it is actually just a mechanism to feed plants and create oxygen for you to breathe and live on the planet.

That's for plants, but what if you assume your body can photosynthesize like plants?

What will you need?

Chlorophyll : Photosynthesis in plants requires a combination of CO ₂ , water and sunlight. The leaves are the main task of creating food for the plants so they always point towards the Sun to absorb maximum light. So what you lack is to have a skin that can withstand strong light like leaves.

What you lack is having a skin that can withstand strong light like leaves.

In the leaves, mesophyllic cells contain chloroplasts. Chloroplasts contain photosynthesis, light-sensitive pigment called chlorophyll. This pigment helps plants carry out photosynthesis, creating green leaves for the leaves and helping the stem grow healthy.

Once these pigments absorb light, it will store in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) , an easy chemical that energizes plants when needed.

Now imagine what a world where all these magic-containing creatures will look like.

A world filled with green

According to Scienceabc , if the human body has chloroplasts in your blood, your skin will definitely turn green. It may not be your favorite skin color but is the skin color needed to sunbathe without fear of anything.

If the human body has chloroplasts in your blood, your skin will definitely turn green.

Speaking of which, you may have noticed how plants absorb light. However, it is a bit different if you think you can photosynthesize as easily as plants.You will need a huge amount of energy, many times more than plants .

A whole day of exposure to sunlight can provide 200 calories. Meanwhile, a healthy person needs up to 2,000 calories a day to survive, not counting the energy used for physical activity and work.

In addition, even when sunlight is absorbed, it is not easy to convert it into energy. Only 5-10% of the sunlight that plants receive can convert into useful energy.

Adaptation and lifestyle changes

If somehow, you can manage to learn photosynthesis, it's best to do it quickly. Over time, people will evolve to be able to increase the area exposed to sunlight. At this time, moving on a transport vehicle will certainly be extremely troublesome because people will compete to sit close to a chair with sunlight.

To get the right amount of calories every day, you'll have to stay in the sun all day.

To get the right amount of calories every day, you'll have to stay in the sun all day. Even further, your body can start to grow leaves and branch out to the sides. This evolution will make your photosynthesis easier.

But why are all the above hypotheses impossible?

First of all, human cells can hardly produce light-sensitive pigments like chlorophyll. This hypothesis has stopped right at the starting line. However, consider a hypothetical situation in which people can study how to help cells make chloroplasts. What will happen after that?

Along with sunlight and water, your body will need more CO ₂ to start photosynthesis. You will need to inhale sufficient amount of air containing the amount of CO ₂ needed.

However, you know that in the air we breathe, CO ₂ accounts for less than 0.05%. In addition, if humans start photosynthesis, CO ₂ will become a cause that limits this process, even gradually scarcely taking into account the current world population. When all creatures try to photosynthesize, eventually life will end here and every creature dies.

It is clear that animal and plant bodies are different, both in the body and in the survival mechanism. But there are species that show the boundary between animals and plants is fading.

Here are some animals but capable of photosynthesis like plants:

Sea slug (Elysia chlorotica)

This marine creature stole the genes of green algae and synthesized its own nutrients. When eating algae, the body cells of this slug integrate the chloroplasts themselves. The secret lies in the complex breakdown of food in their bodies. Instead of digesting all the food, the gut of the sea slug forms cells cells that suck in the chloroplasts and keep it in service for photosynthesis.

Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)

Much like a sea leaf slug, spotted salamanders also maintain symbiotic relationships with green algae cells. The chloroplasts in this organism are found near the mitochondria of the cell. They directly consume oxygen and carbohydrates produced through photosynthesis.

The most amazing thing about this relationship is that all vertebrate animals have a strong immune system, which specializes in destroying and preventing any foreign objects from entering the body. Yet the pigments and chlorophyll in their bodies can survive without being eliminated.

In other words, spotted salamanders are one of the special immune systems and the only vertebrate that can survive on photosynthesis.

Oriental hornets (Vespa directionalis)

We may have heard that plants can generate electricity from sunlight but very little for animals. Unlike slugs and salamanders, the insect's body contains xanthoperin, a special chemical capable of absorbing light and converting into electricity.

This is due to the tiny grooves in the wasps. Those are yellow areas of bees. This is where the photons from the sun are trapped and thanks to the support of xanthoperin, the bee's body can produce electricity.

This current helps a lot of bees in the dark and supports the development of pupae. That's why compared to other wasps, Eastern wasps are more active when it is sunny.