The characterization of a novel mutant, named Pinalate, derived from the orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) Navelate, which produces distinctive yellow fruits instead of the typical bright orange colouration, is reported. The carotenoid content and composition, and ABA content in leaf and flavedo tissue (coloured part of the skin) of fruits at different developmental and maturation stages were ...

It was shown that in membranes containing raft domains, the macular xanthophylls lutein and zeaxanthin are not distributed uniformly, but are excluded from saturated raft domains and about ten times more concentrated in unsaturated bulk lipids. The selective accumulation of lutein and zeaxanthin in direct proximity to unsaturated lipids, which are especially susceptible to lipid peroxidation, c...

Feedback de-excitation (qE) regulates light harvesting in plants to prevent inhibition of photosynthesis when light absorption exceeds photosynthetic capacity. Although the mechanism of qE is not completely understood, it is known to require a low thylakoid lumen pH, de-epoxidized xanthophylls, and the photosystem II protein PsbS. During a short-term 4-h exposure to excess light, three PsbS- an...

Plant-based macular xanthophylls (MXs; lutein and zeaxanthin) and the lutein metabolite meso-zeaxanthin are the major constituents of macular pigment, a compound concentrated in retinal areas that are responsible for fine-feature visual sensation. There is an unmet need to examine the genetics of factors influencing regulatory mechanisms and metabolic fates of these 3 MXs because they are linke...

Xanthophylls participate in light harvesting and are essential in protecting the chloroplast from photooxidative damage. To investigate the roles of xanthophylls in photoprotection, we isolated and characterized extragenic suppressors of the npq1 lor1 double mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which lacks zeaxanthin and lutein and undergoes irreversible photooxidative bleaching and cell death ...

In the present study, xanthophyll composition of eight parasitic Cuscuta species under different light conditions was investigated. Neoxanthin was not detected in four of the eight species examined, while in others it occurred at the level of several percent of total xanthophylls. In C. gronovii and C. lupuliformis it was additionally found that the neoxanthin content was considerably stimulate...