CarotenoidFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The orange ring surroundingGrand Prismatic Spring is due to carotenoid molecules, produced by mats of algae and bacteria.Carotenoids, also called tetraterpenoids, are organic pigments that are found in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms, including some bacteria and some fungi. Carotenoids can be produced from fats and other basic organic metabolic building blocks by all these organisms. The only animals known to produce carotenoids are aphids and spider mites, which acquired the ability and genes from fungi.[1] Carotenoids from the diet are stored in the fatty tissues of animals, and exclusively carnivorous animals obtain the compounds from animal fat. There are over 600 known carotenoids; they are split into two classes, xanthophylls (which contain oxygen) andcarotenes (which are purely hydrocarbons, and contain no oxygen). All derivatives of tetraterpenes, meaning that they are produced from 8 isoprene molecules and contain 40 carbon atoms. In general, carotenoids absorb wavelengths ranging from 400-550 nanometers (violet to green light). This causes the compounds to be deeply colored yellow, orange, or red. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species, but many plant colors, especially reds and purples, are due to other classes of chemicals. Carotenoids serve two key roles in plants and algae: they absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis, and they protect chlorophyll from photodamage.[2]Carotenoids that contain unsubstituted beta-ionone rings (including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin and gamma-carotene) have vitamin Aactivity (meaning that they can be converted to retinol), and these and other carotenoids can also act as antioxidants. In the eye, certain other carotenoids (lutein, astaxanthin,[3] and zeaxanthin) apparently act directly to absorb damaging blue and near-ultraviolet light, in order to protect the macula of the retina, the part of the eye with the sharpest vision. Contents [hide]
Biosynthesis[edit]CRT is the gene cluster responsible for the biosynthesis of carotenoids. Properties[edit]Main articles: carotenes and xanthophyllsCarotenoids belong to the category of tetraterpenoids (i.e., they contain 40 carbon atoms, being built from four terpene units each containing 10 carbon atoms). Structurally, carotenoids take the form of a polyene hydrocarbon chain which is sometimes terminated by rings, and may or may not have additional oxygen atoms attached.
Their color, ranging from pale yellow through bright orange to deep red, is directly linked to their structure. Xanthophylls are often yellow, hence their class name. The double carbon-carbon bonds interact with each other in a process called conjugation, which allows electrons in the molecule to move freely across these areas of the molecule. As the number of conjugated double bonds increases, electrons associated with conjugated systems have more room to move, and require less energy to change states. This causes the range of energies of light absorbed by the molecule to decrease. As more frequencies of light are absorbed from the short end of the visible spectrum, the compounds acquire an increasingly red appearance. Carotenoids are usually lipophilic due to the presence of long unsaturated aliphatic chains as in some fatty acids. The physiological absorption of these fat-soluble vitamins in humans and other organisms depends directly on the presence of fats and bile salts.[5] Physiological effects[edit]Supplements[edit]A 2014 review found that antioxidant supplements (including carotenoids) do not confer any health benefit and appear to increase the risk of getting certain cancers.[6] In foods[edit]Reviews of epidemiological studies seeking correlations between carotenoid consumption in food and clinical outcomes have come to various conclusions:
Simplified carotenoid synthesispathway.Plant colors[edit]The most common carotenoids include lycopene and the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. In plants, the xanthophylllutein is the most abundant carotenoid and its role in preventing age-related eye disease is currently under investigation. Lutein and the other carotenoid pigments found in mature leaves are often not obvious because of the masking presence of chlorophyll. When chlorophyll is not present, as in autumn foliage, the yellows and oranges of the carotenoids are predominant. For the same reason, carotenoid colors often predominate in ripe fruit after being unmasked by the disappearance of chlorophyll. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to carrots, corn, canaries, and daffodils, as well as egg yolks, rutabagas,buttercups, and bananas. Carotenoids are responsible for the brilliant yellows and oranges that tint deciduous foliage (such as dying autumn leaves) of certain hardwood species as hickories, ash, maple, yellow poplar, aspen, birch, black cherry, sycamore,cottonwood, sassafras, and alder. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species.[14] However, the reds, the purples, and their blended combinations that decorate autumn foliage usually come from another group of pigments in the cells called anthocyanins. Unlike the carotenoids, these pigments are not present in the leaf throughout the growing season, but are actively produced towards the end of summer.[15] Aroma chemicals[edit]Products of carotenoid degradation such as ionones, damascones and damascenones are also important fragrance chemicals that are used extensively in theperfumes and fragrance industry. Both β-damascenone and β-ionone although low in concentration in rose distillates are the key odor-contributing compounds in flowers. In fact, the sweet floral smells present in black tea, aged tobacco, grape, and many fruits are due to the aromatic compounds resulting from carotenoid breakdown. Disease[edit]Some carotenoids are produced by bacteria to protect themselves from oxidative immune attack. The golden pigment that gives some strains ofStaphylococcus aureus their name (aureusis = golden) is a carotenoid called staphyloxanthin. This carotenoid is a virulence factor with an antioxidant action that helps the microbe evade death by reactive oxygen species used by the host immune system.[16] Question of synthesis in the corpus luteum[edit]Following a 1968 report that beta-carotene was synthesized in laboratory conditions in slices of corpus luteum from cows, an organ known to concentrate beta-carotene (hence its color and name), attempts have been made to replicate these findings, but have not succeeded. The idea is not presently accepted by the scientific community.[17] Rather, the mammalian corpus luteum, like the macula lutea in the retina of the mammalian eye, merely concentrates carotenoids from the diet. Artificial synthesis[edit]Microorganisms can be genetically modified[18] to produce certain C40 carotenoids, including lycopene and beta carotene.[19] Naturally occurring carotenoids[edit]
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