Beta-carotenoid

Hippophae rhamnoides L. Sha Ji (Sea buckthorn) (seed, fruit, leaf) Cryptoxanthin, harman, harmol, hemin, isorhamnetin, lycopene, serotonin, isorhamnetin-3-mono-beta-D-glucoside, polyphenols, fatty acids flavonoid, essential oils, tannins, quercitin, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotenoid.50-450 Improve resistance to infection, skin irritation and eruption, treat heart disease, oil for cosmetic use. 

Bishop N I, Urbig T and Senger H (1995) Complete separation of the beta, epsilon- and beta, beta-carotenoid biosynthetic pathways by a unique mutation of the lycopene cyclase in the green alga, Scenedesmus obliquus. FEBS Letters 367 158-162... 

Annatto is a colored pigment that is extracted from the Central and South American plant Bixa orellana. The color comes from the resinous outer covering of the seeds of the plant, which is composed of the carotenoid pigments bixin and norbixin and their esters. The central portion of those molecules is the same as that of the molecule beta-carotene, and the yellow-orange color of annatto comes from the same physical chemistry origins as the orange color of beta-carotene. 

Beta-carotene is used in foods to provide color (margarine would look as white as vegetable shortening without it). Another similar molecule, annatto, is used in cheeses. Another famous carotenoid dye, saffron, is used to color rice and other foods. 

The dye molecule in saffron is the carotenoid beta-gentiobiose crocetin. It is related to beta-carotene, and you can see the relationship in the center of the molecule. That center portion is the carotenoid pigment crocetin ... 

It is well known that excessive intake of P-carotene may lead to carotenodermia (yellow skin), and it is undoubtedly the case that some carotenoid is directly lost via the skin or through photo-oxidation in the skin. As far as is known the carotenoids are not cytotoxic or genotoxic even at concentrations up to 10 times the normal plasma concentration which may cause carotenodermia. However, they are associated with amenorrhoea in girls who may be consuming bizarre diets and, in long-term supplementation studies, with an increase in lung cancer (The Alpha-tocopherol, Beta-carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group, 1994). 

Carotenoid and tocopherol concentrations in plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and red blood cells after long-term beta-carotene supplementation in men. Am J Clin Nutr 63(4) 553-8. 

Micozzi M s, BROWN E D, TAYLOR and WOLFE E (1988) Carotenodermia in men with elevated carotenoid intake from foods and beta-carotene supplements. Am J Clin Nutr. 49(6) 1330-31. 

Lafferty, J., Truscott, T.C., and Land, E.J., Electron transfer reactions involving chlorophylls a and b and carotenoids, J. Chem. Soc. Farad. Trans., lA, 2760, 1978. Burri, B.J., Clifford, A.J., and Dixon, Z.R., Beta-carotene depletion and oxidative damage in women, in Natural Antioxidants and Anticarcinogens in Nutrition, Health and Disease, Kumulainen, J.T. and Salonen, J.T., Eds., Royal Society of Chemistry, Stockholm, 1999, 231. 

Holick, C.N. et al., Dietary carotenoids, serum beta-carotene, and retinol and risk of lung cancer in the alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cohort study, Am. J. Epidemiol., 156, 536, 2002. 

As for anthocyanins, betalains are found in vacuoles and cytosols of plant cells. From the various natural sources of betalains, beetroot (Beta vulgaris) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) are the only edible sources of these compounds. In the food industry, betalains are less commonly used as natural colorants from plant sources than anthocyanins and carotenoids, probably related to their more restricted distribution in nature. To date, red beetroot is the only betalain source exploited for use as a natural food coloring agent. The major betalain in red beetroot is betanin (or betanidin 5-0-P-glucoside). Prickly pear fruits contain mainly (purple-red) betanin and (yellow-orange) indicaxanthin and the color of these fruits is directly related to the betanin-to-indicaxanthin ratio (99 to 1, 1 to 8, and 2 to 1, respectively in white, yellow, and red fruits)." ... 

Lindqvist, A. and Andersson, S., Biochemical properties of purified recombinant human beta-carotene 15,15-monooxygenase, J. Biol. Chem., 277, 23942, 2002. Krinsky, N.I., Cornwell, D.G., and Oncley, J.I., The transport of vitamin A and carotenoids in human plasma. Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 73, 233, 1958. 

Liebler, D.C. et al.. Antioxidant actions of beta-carotene in liposomal and microsomal membranes role of carotenoid-membrane incorporation and alfa-tocopherol, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 338, 244, 1997. 

Tao, L. et al., A carotenoid synthesis gene cluster from Algoriphagus sp. KK10202C with a novel fusion-type lycopene beta-cyclase gene. Mol. Genet. Genomics 379, 101, 2006. 

Isaacson, T. et al., Cloning of tangerine from tomato reveals a carotenoid isomerase essential for the production of beta-carotene and xanthophylls in plants, Plant Cell 14, 333, 2002. 

Hausmann, A. and Sandmann, G., A single five-step desaturase is involved in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway to beta-carotene and torulene in Neurospora crassa, Eungal Genet. Biol. 30, 147, 2000. 

Cunningham, F.X. Jr. et al.. Functional analysis of the beta and epsilon lycopene cyclase enzymes of Arabidopsis reveals a mechanism for control of cyclic carotenoid formation. Plant Cell 8, 1613, 1996. 

Ducrenx, L.J. et al.. Metabolic engineering of high carotenoid potato tnbers containing enhanced levels of beta-carotene and lutein, J. Exp. Bot. 56, 81, 2005. 

Ye, X. et al.. Engineering the provitamin A (beta-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid-free) rice endosperm. Science 287, 303, 2000. 

Orange carotenoid protein Conserved hypothetical protein (sir 1964) ft- OCP N terminal domain OCP C-terminal domain Hypothetical protein Hypothetical protein D- Beta carotene ketolase homolog Hydrolase... 

Castelli, F., S. Caruso, and N. Giuffrida. 1999. Different effects of two structurally similar carotenoids, lutein and beta-carotene, on the thermotropic behaviour of phosphatidylcholine liposomes. Calorimetric evidence of their hindered transport through biomembranes. Thermochim. Acta 327 125-131. 

Gabrielska, J. and W.I. Gruszecki. 1996. Zeaxanthin (dihydroxy-beta-carotene) but not beta-carotene rigidities lipid membranes A 1H-NMR study of carotenoid-egg phosphatidylcholine liposomes. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1285 167-174. 

The interaction of carotenoids with cigarette smoke has become a subject of interest since the results of the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group 1994 (ATBC) and CARET (Omenn et al. 1996) studies were released. P-Carotene has been hypothesized to promote lung carcinogenesis by acting as a prooxidant in the smoke-exposed lung. Thus, the autoxidation of P-carotene in the presence of cigarette smoke was studied in model systems (toluene) (Baker et al. 1999). The major product was identified as 4-nitro-P-carotene, but apocarotenals and P-carotene epoxides were also encountered. 

Baker, D. L. et al. (1999). Reactions of beta-carotene with cigarette smoke oxidants. Identification of carotenoid oxidation products and evaluation of the prooxidant antioxidant effect. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 12(6) 535-543. Bonnie, T. Y. P. and Y. M. Choo (1999). Oxidation and thermal degradation of carotenoids. J. Oil Palm Res. 11(1) 62-78. 

Kanasawud, P. and J. C. Crouzet (1990a). Mechanism of formation of volatile compounds by thermal degradation of carotenoids in aqueous medium. 1. Beta-carotene degradation. J. Agric. Food Chem. 38(1) 237-243. 

Zurcher, M. et al. (1997). Oxidation of carotenoids-I. Dihydrooxepin derivatives as products of oxidation of canthaxanthin and beta,beta-carotene. Tet. Lett. 38(45) 7853-7856. 

Johnson, E. J. and E. Norkus (1995). Contribution of beta-carotene from beta-carotene enriched formulas to individual and total serum carotenoids in term infants. FASEB J. 9(4 Pt 3) 1869. 

V. Tyssandier, N. Cardinault, C. Caris-Veyrat, M.-J. Amiot, R Grolier, C. Bouteloup, V. Azais-Braesco, and R Borel, Vegetable-home lutein, lycopene, and beta-carotene compete for incorporation into cylomi-crons, with no adverse effect on the medium term (3-wk) plasma status of carotenoids in humans, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 75 (2002) 526-534. 

M. van Lieshout, C. E. West, and R. B. van Breemen, Isotopic tracer techniques for studying the bioavailability and bioefficacy of dietary carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene, in humans A review, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 77 (2003) 12-28. 

T. Van Vliet, Absorption of beta-carotene and other carotenoids in humans and animal models, Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 50 (1996) S32-S37. 

T. van Vliet, F. van Schaik, W. H. Schreurs, and H. van den Berg, In vitro measurement of beta-carotene cleavage activity Methodological considerations and the effect of other carotenoids on beta-carotene cleavage, Int. J. Vitam. Nutr. Res. 66 (1996) 77-85. 

During, A. et al. (2002). Carotenoid uptake and secretion by CaCo-2 cells Beta-carotene isomer selectivity and carotenoid interactions. J. Lipid Res. 43(7) 1086-1095. 

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