To promote understanding of how organisms are related via carotenoids, either evolutionarily or symbiotically, or in food chains through natural histories, we built the Carotenoids Database. This provides chemical information on 1117 natural carotenoids with 683 source organisms. For extracting organisms closely related through the biosynthesis of carotenoids, we offer a new similarity search s...

Theory suggests that carotenoid-based signals are used in animal communication because they contain specific information about parasite resistance or immunocompetence. This implies that honesty of carotenoid-based signals is maintained by a trade-off between pigmentation and immune function for carotenoids, assuming that the carotenoids used for coloration are also immunoenhancing. We tested th...

Sea angels, Clione limacina and Paedoclione doliiformis, are small, floating sea slugs belonging to Gastropoda, and their gonads are a bright orange-red color. Sea angels feed exclusively on a small herbivorous sea snail, Limacina helicina. Carotenoids in C. limacina, P. doliiformis, and L. helicina were investigated for comparative biochemical points of view. β-Carotene, zeaxanthin, and diatox...

Carotenoids are valuable pigments of commercial interest for various health benefits. There is rising demand for natural carotenoids from microorganisms, although the majority of industrially produced carotenoids are currently chemically synthesized. Rhodosporidium toruloides is oleaginous red yeast, which can produce large amounts of carotenoids and lipids simultaneously. It is also able to as...

Carotenoids in the peel and the flesh of persimmon fruit were identified, and the contents of carotenoids in the fleshes of 46 different persimmon cultivars were analyzed. The results indicated that 31 specific carotenoids were detected in both cultivars of persimmons, among which nine specific carotenoids were characterized. β-cryptoxanthin was the most abundant carotenoid among all individual...

Carotenoids are pigments which play a major role in the protection of plants against photooxidative processes. They are efficient antioxidants scavenging singlet molecular oxygen and peroxyl radicals. In the human organism, carotenoids are part of the antioxidant defense system. They interact synergistically with other antioxidants; mixtures of carotenoids are more effective than single compoun...

background and objectives: in marine actinomycetes, carotenoid production occurs in constitutive, light-dependent or cryptic manner. the present work deals with the fermentative production of carotenoids from marine actinomycetes. materials and methods: marine actinomycetes namely streptomyces strain aqbmm35 was isolated from the marine sponge mycale mytilorum collected from south west coast of...

A listing of carotenoids with heteroatoms (X = F, Cl, Br, I, Si, N, S, Se, Fe) directly attached to the carotenoid carbon skeleton has been compiled. The 178 listed carotenoids with C, H, X atoms demonstrate that the classical division of carotenoids into hydrocarbon carotenoids (C, H) and xanthophylls (C, H, O) has become obsolete.

Vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient for humans, may be provided in the diet either as preformed vitamin A or as provitamin A carotenoids. The bioavailability of carotenoids in foods varies greatly, depending on many factors. Carotenoids are emulsified and then are solubilized in micellar form within the intestine with an absolute requirement for conjugated bile salts. Dietary carotenoids ...