Abstract
Considerable changes in pigment composition accur during a period of 10 h when dark-grown cultures of PG1, a ζ-carotenic strain of Scenedesmus obliquus, are illuminated. These changes are consistent with a biosynthetic pathway in which 15-cis-phytoene is converted via 15-cis-phytofluene and 15-cis-ζ-carotene into all-trans-gz-carotene and trans-bicyclic carotenoids.
The findings also support the view that the xanthophylls lutein and zeaxanthin are formed from the corresponding carotenes and are especially important in the development of a normal chloroplast structure.
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Abbreviations
- TLC:
-
thin-layer chromatography
References
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Powls, R., Britton, G. The roles of isomers of phytoene, phytofluene and ζ-carotene in carotenoid biosynthesis by a mutant strain of Scenedesmus obliquus . Arch. Microbiol. 115, 175–179 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406372
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406372