The roles of isomers of phytoene, phytofluene and zeta-carotene in carotenoid biosynthesis by a mutant strain of Scenedesmus obliquus.
Considerable changes in pigment composition occur during a period of 10 h when dark-grown cultures of PG1, a zeta-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-zeta-carotene into all-trans-zeta-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.
D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008027:Light; D014975:Lutein / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009154:Mutation; D013237:Stereoisomerism
D002734:Chlorophyll; D002338:Carotenoids; C003140:phytofluene; D014975:Lutein