Algae Porphyra tenera

Takano, S., Nakanishi, A., Uemura, D., and Hirata, Y., Isolation and structure of a 334 nm UV-absorbing substance, porphyra-334 from the red alga Porphyra tenera Kjellman, Chem. Lett., 419, 1979. 

Messerschmidt, A., Landenstein, R., Huber, R., Bolognesi, M., Avigliano, L., Petruzzelli, R., Rossi, A. and Finazzi Agro, A. 1992. Refined crystal structure of ascorbate oxidase at 1.9 A resolution. Journal of Molecular Biology 224, 179-205. Miki, K., Ezoe, T., Masui, A., Yoshisaka, T., Mimuro, M., Fujiwara-Arasaki, T. and Kasai, N, 1990, Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of C-phycocyanin from a red alga, Porphyra tenera. Journal of Biochemistry 108, 646-649. Molecular Probes. Handbook of fluorescent probes and research chemicals. 1992-1994. 

Okai, Y., Higashi-Okai, K., Yano, Y., and Otani, S. (1996). Identification of antimutagenic substances in an extract of edible red alga, Porphyra tenera (asadusa-nori). Cancer Lett. 100, 235-240. 

The importance of vitamins to plants themselves is often overlooked, but they play the essential roles in a plant metabolism too (Smith et ah, 2007). Some algal species require different combinations of certain vitamins such as vitamins B12 and Bi. Because the concentration of these vitamins in the natural environment is quite low, their absorption is insufficient (Croft et ah, 2006). According to Yamada et ah (1996a), red algae Porphyra tenera can take up the free (not protein-bounded) form of vitamin B12 from the incubation medium by concentration- and temperature-dependent processes. The amoimt of uptake increases with the time of incubation. 

Kajiwaia T, Kashibe M, Matsui K, Hatanaka A (1990) Volatile ctnnpounds and long-chain aldehydes formation in conchocelis-filaments of a red alga, Porphyra tenera. Phytochemistry 29(7) 2193-2195... 

Vitamin B12 is synthesized only by bacteria and possibly some algae. There are no plant sources of the vitamin, and no plant enzymes are known to require vitamin B12 as a coenzyme. A number of reports have suggested that vitamin Bi2 occurs in some algae, but this maybe the result of bacterial contamination of the water in which they were grown. Nori, made from the edible seaweed Porphyra tenera, has been reported to contain biologically active cobalamin when it is fresh but, on drying, there is a considerable loss of the vitamin as a result of the formation of inactive corrinoids (Yamada et al., 1999). 

Katayama reported volatiles of some air-dried green marine algae at the early stages of gas chromatography (GC) development (3). In recent years, we have explored volatile compounds in fifty or more species of wet and undecomposed seaweeds in Japan green seaweeds Ulva pertusa. Monostroma nitidum, and Enteromorpha clathrata brown seaweeds Laminaria japonica and Undaria pinnatifida, and red seaweeds Porphyra tenera and Porphyra yezoensis by GC and GC-mass spectrometry (MS). 

In the United Kingdom the red alga Porphyra umbilicalis is the basis of laver bread prepared traditionally in parts of Wales and Ireland. Similar products are prepared in the United States, where they are known by the Japanese term nori which is used to garnish or wrap sushi . Japanese nori is derived from P. yessoensis and P. tenera (Clifford 2000). 

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