Cyanobacteria carotenoids

Specific carotenoid-protein complexes have been reported in plants and invertebrates (cyanobacteria, crustaceans, silkworms, etc.), while data on the existence of carotenoproteins in vertebrates are more limited. As alternatives for their water solubilization, carotenoids could use small cytosolic carrier vesicles." Carotenoids can also be present in very fine physical dispersions (or crystalline aggregates) in aqueous media of oranges, tomatoes, and carrots. Thus these physicochemical characteristics of carotenoids as well as those of other pigments are important issues for the understanding of their bioavailability. 

Natural pigment production for food coloration includes the entire spectrum of biotechnologies. For example, biological production of carotenoid pigments has medical implications because carotenoids are nutritive (pro-vitamin A), antioxidant, and photoprotective. Carotenoids are produced alternately in agricultural systems (plants), industrial bioreactors (bacterial and fungi), and marine systems (cyanobacteria and algae). 

Molecular, spectroscopic, and functional genomics studies have demonstrated the remarkable similarity among the components of the photosynthetic machinery of cyanobacteria, algae, and plants. These organisms also share the need to balance the collection of energy for photosynthesis with the threat of photodestruction. Carotenoids are central to attaining this balance. 

Bailey, S., N. Mann, C. Robinson, and D. J. Scanlan (2005). The occurrence of rapidly reversible non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll a fluorescence in cyanobacteria. FEBS Lett 579(1) 275-280. Boulay, C., L. Abasova, C. Six, I. Vass, and D. Kirilovsky (2008a). Occurrence and function of the orange carotenoid protein in photoprotective mechanisms in various cyanobacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta 1777(10) 1344-1354. 

Holt, T. K. and D. W. Krogmann (1981). A carotenoid-protein from cyanobacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta 637(3) 408 114. 

Kerfeld, C. A. (2004a). Structure and function of the water-soluble carotenoid-binding proteins of cyanobacteria. Photosynth Res 81(3) 215-225. 

Kirilovsky, D. (2007). Photoprotection in cyanobacteria The orange carotenoid protein (OCP)-related non-photochemical-quenching mechanism. Photosynth Res 93 7-16. 

Wilson, A., G. Ajlani, J. M. Verbavatz et al. (2006). A soluble carotenoid protein involved in phycobilisome-related energy dissipation in cyanobacteria. Plant Cell 18(4) 992-1007. 

Apocarotenoids also act as chemoattractants, repellants, and growth effectors in plants and cyanobacteria. They attract pollinators to plants through the use of color similar to full-length carotenoids. Their aromas are thought to be attractants for animals and insects to facilitate in seed dispersal and pollination. Small volatile apocarotenoids lure pollinators and levels of apocarotenoids... 

Pigments of the photosynthetic apparatus can also be destroyed after UV-exposure, with the phycobilins (main pigments of red algae and cyanobacteria) being the most sensitive, and carotenoids generally being less affected than chlorophylls (Teramura 1983). 

Cyanobacteria and algae have evolved a complex defense system against ROS, including non-enzymatic antioxidants like carotenoids, tocopherols (vitamin E), ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and reduced glutathione (Asada 1994). 

Lakatos M, Bilger W, Budel B (2001) Lipophilous carotenoids of terrestrial cyanobacteria from different habitats in Venezuela. Eur J Phycol 36 367-375... 

Carotenoids Peridinin Fucoxanthin 19 -butanoyloxyfucoxanthin 19 -hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin Alloxan thin Prasinoxanthin Lutein Zeaxanthin Dinoflagellates Diatoms Pelagophytes Haptophytes Cryptophytes Prasinophytes Chlorophytes Cyanobacteria, chlorophytes... 

Eukaryotic plants and cyanobacteria. Photosynthetic dinoflagellates, which make up much of the marine plankton, use both carotenoids and chlorophyll in light-harvesting complexes. The carotenoid peridinin (Fig. 23-29), which absorbs blue-green in the 470- to 550-nm range, predominates. The LH complex of Amphidinium carterae consists of a 30.2-kDA protein that forms a cavity into which eight molecules of peridinin but only two of chlorophyll a (Chi a) and two molecules of a galactolipid are bound (Fig. 23-29).268... 

Karsten, U. and Garcia-Pichel, F., Carotenoids and mycosporine-like amino acid compounds in members of the genus Microcoleus (cyanobacteria) a chemosystematic study, Syst. Appl. Microbiol., 19, 285, 1996. 

Photobiotechnology. Photosynthetic micro-organisms specifically designed for the production of compounds such as carotenoids, ammonia, amino-acids, H2 and possibly ethanol. Cyanobacteria, for example, are versatile micro-organisms whose growth and metabolism can be manipulated to preferentially excrete biochemicals. 

Carotenoids are found in all native photosynfhetic organisms. They serve a dual function, as both accessory antenna pigment and also are essential in photoprotection of photosynfhetic systems from the effects of excess light, especially in the presence of oxygen. Bilins are open-chain tetrapyrroles that are present in antenna complexes called phycobilisomes. These complexes are found in cyanobacteria and red algae. Structures of representative carotenoid pigments are shown in Figure 3. 

Poutanen, E. L., and Nikkila, K. (2001). Carotenoid pigments as tracers of cyanobacteria blooms in recent and post-glacial sediments of the Baltic Sea. Ambio 30, 179-183. 

This review describes bioactive compounds isolated from marine algae and invertebrates with an emphasis on then-uniqueness. Because of limited space, metabolites from bacteria, cyanobacteria, and fungi cannot be included, although some from cyanobacterial and endosymbiotic bacterial origins are described (some reviews on metabolites of marine bacteria, cyanobacteria, and fungi are provided in the Further Reading section). Structures and bioactivities are described for compounds that represent natural product classes, but steroids and carotenoids are not included. 

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