Plant species such as the sesame plant and the coconut palm have large amounts of lipids in their seeds. Which of the following is the most likely function of these lipids? a. to store energy for the seedlings
b. to absorb water for the seedlings
c. to encode most of the genetic information in the seedlings
d. to speed up most of the chemical reactions in the

a. to store energy for the seedlings

Explanation:

It is well now that plants store chemical energy in the form of complex carbohydrates (i.e., starch), which are broken down into glucose for generating energy. However, plants also store lipids that are used as energy, which are compartmentalized in specialized cellular structures named lipid droplets (LDs). The LDs are organelles composed of a phospholipid monolayer that contains proteins and a core consisting of storage lipids. These organelles are accumulated in seeds of oilseed crops such as sunflower, soybean and rapeseed, where they are degraded to provide energy during the seedling stage.