Elucidation of a Carotenoid Biosynthesis Gene Cluster Encoding a Novel Enzyme, 2,2 -Hydroxylase, from Brevundimonas sp. Strain SD212 and Combinatorial Biosynthesis of New or Rare Xanthophylls Yasuhiro Nishida, Kyoko Adachi, Hiroaki Kasai, Yoshikazu Shizuri, Kazutoshi Shindo, Akiyoshi Sawabe, Sadao Komemushi, Wataru Miki, and Norihiko Misawa* School of Agriculture, Kinki University, Nakamachi, N...

Carotenoids are considered a limited resource for animals because they are not synthesised by the body. Birds use carotenoids, mainly xanthophylls, for physiological functions, such as anti-oxidant activity, and for colour expression; hence, they need to shunt carotenoids between competitive demands. Recent studies suggest that the antioxidant role of xanthophylls might not be as important as p...

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of long-term storage on the carotenoid pigments present in whole-grain flours prepared from durum wheat and tritordeum. As expected, higher storage temperatures showed a catabolic effect, which was very marked for free carotenoid pigments. Surprisingly, for both cereal genotypes, the thermal conditions favoured the synthesis of lutein esters, lead...

There are multiple complementary and redundant mechanisms to provide protection against photo-oxidative damage, including non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). NPQ dissipates excess excitation energy as heat by using xanthophylls in combination with changes to the light-harvesting complex (LHC) antenna. The xanthophylls are oxygenated carotenoids that in addition to contributing to NPQ can quench ...

Lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoids that are selectively taken up into themacula of the eye where they are thought to protect against the development of age-related macular degeneration. Current dietary databasesmake it difficult to ascertain their individual roles in eye health because their concentrations in foods are generally reported together. The objective of this work is to determine t...

Temperature and pressure effects of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) on the extraction of carotenoids and seed oil from rosehip fruits have been studied. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has shown much potential skills for the isolation of organic compounds from various samples. SFE minimizes sample handling, provides fairly clean extracts, expedites sample preparation and reduces the u...

The dietary carotenoids provide photoprotection to photosynthetic organisms, the eye and the skin. The protection mechanisms involve both quenching of singlet oxygen and of damaging free radicals. The mechanisms for singlet oxygen quenching and protection against free radicals are quite different - indeed, under some conditions, quenching of free radicals can lead to a switch from a beneficial ...