The industrial production of -carotene with the zygomycete Blakeslea trispora involves the joint cultivation of mycelia of opposite sex in the presence of -ionone and other chemical activators. We have obtained improved strains by mutation and heterokaryosis. We chose wild strains on the basis of their growth and carotene content in single and mated cultures. Following exposure of their spores ...

We describe the use of HPLC with muitiwavelength detection to measure retinol, a-tocopherol, Iutein/zeaxanthin, f3-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, a-carotene, trans-p-carotene, /3-carotene, and the linoleate, oleate, palmitate, and stearate esters of retinol in a single 200L serum sample. The method is sensitive enough to detect individual retinyl esters in fasting serum from a nonhyperlipidemic popul...

In addition to canthaxanthin, seven pigment fractions were isolated from Micrococcus roseus. They were purified by solvent partitioning and by column and thin-layer chromatography. Visible absorption spectra, chromatographic behavior, and partition coefficients of the pigments and derivatives prepared from the pigments were used in characterizing them. Both alpha- and beta-carotene derivatives ...

Vitamin A regulates many essential mammalian biological processes, including embryonic development. β-carotene is the main source of vitamin A in the human diet. Once ingested, it is packaged into lipoproteins, predominantly low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and transported to different sites within the body, including the liver and developing tissues, where it can either be stored or metabolized...

African leafy vegetables (ALVs) are known to be high in β-carotene content and are preferred over kales due to this nutritional superiority. Ten different vegetables were collected from farm and market locations and analyzed for β-carotene content. Cooked vegetables (in single or in combination) as well as solar dried samples were prepared by the community members in the study area in the usual...

Experiments were conducted to examine the effect of cyclodextrin-encapsulated beta-carotene on basal or cholesterol (cyclodextrin-encapsulated), LH and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP)-stimulated progesterone production by bovine corpus luteum cells isolated from mid-luteal heifer ovaries by collagenase digestion. Cells were cultured with serum-free DMEM/Ham's F12 medium in serum pre-treated plast...

Carotenes, which are yellow-orange pigments, are a class of related organic compounds classified as hydrocarbons, more specifically as terpenoids, with the molecular formula C40H56. Plants, fungi, and photosynthetic bacteria synthesize carotenes, while animals must obtain them as a dietary nutrient (Vrolijk et al., 2015). Plants are capable of synthesizing several isomers of carotene. Alpha-car...

A thiol-modified carotene, 7'-apo-7'-(4-mercaptomethylphenyl)-β-carotene, was used to obtain nonresonant surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of carotene at an excitation wavelength of 1064 nm, which were compared with resonant SERS spectra at an excitation wavelength of 532 nm. These spectra and surface-enhanced hyper-Raman scattering (SEHRS) spectra of the functionalized carotene ...

The industrial production of beta-carotene with the zygomycete Blakeslea trispora involves the joint cultivation of mycelia of opposite sex in the presence of beta-ionone and other chemical activators. We have obtained improved strains by mutation and heterokaryosis. We chose wild strains on the basis of their growth and carotene content in single and mated cultures. Following exposure of their...

Three different types of beta-carotene mutants of Phycomyces have been studied. In 2 mutants (Type I) beta-carotene is still the principal carotene but scaled down or up relative to wild type. The carotene mixture of 2 mutants (Type II) consists mainly of phytoene and phytofluene. In Type III (2 mutants) beta-carotene is replaced by lycopene. The examination of the mutants reveals that the rece...