right|thumb|220px|The differentiation of Elaioplasts
thumb|right|Illustration from Collegiate Dictionary, FA Brockhaus and IA Efron, circa 1905. Cell of very young leaf of [[Vanilla planifolia; E - elaioplasts; Л - the nucleus; Я - leucoplasts; B - vacuoles]]
Elaioplasts are one of the three possible forms of leucoplasts, sometimes broadly referred to as such. The main function of elaioplasts is synthesis and storage of fatty acids, terpenes, and other lipids, and they can be found in the embryonic leaves of certain plants, as well as the anthers of many flowering plants.
Description
Like most leucoplasts, elaioplasts are non-pigmented organelles capable of alternating between the different forms of plastids. The elaioplast specifically is primarily responsible for the storage and metabolism of lipids, among these roles, recent studies have shown that these organelles participate in the formation of terpenes and fatty acids. In vegetative cells, proplastids usually follow a unidirectional pathway of development with no reversals between one form and the next. Reproductive cells, however, may have plastids that inter-convert frequently. In the anthers of flowering plants, elaioplasts represent the final stage of plastid development within the tapetum, either emerging directly from proplastids or the conversion of other plastids, depending on the species and pollination strategy. Evidence of this can be observed today in the independent genomes characteristic of plastids, found to be closely related to modern cyanobacteria. Since their ancient symbiotic event, the plastid genome has been reduced significantly, with the organelles themselves coding for around 100 of the 2500 associated proteins, everything else being transferred to the nuclear genome.