Pigments of Staphylococcus aureus, a series of triterpenoid carotenoids.
The pigments of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated and purified, and their chemical structures were determined. All of the 17 compounds identified were triterpenoid carotenoids possessing a C30 chain instead of the C40 carotenoid structure found in most other organisms. The main pigment, staphyloxanthin, was shown to be alpha-D-glucopyranosyl 1-O-(4,4'-diaponeurosporen-4-oate) 6-O-(12-methyltetradecanoate), in which glucose is esterified with both a triterpenoid carotenoid carboxylic acid and a C15 fatty acid. It is accompanied by isomers containing other hexoses and homologs containing C17 fatty acids. The carotenes 4,4'-diapophytoene, 4,4'-diapophytofluene, 4-4'-diapophytofluene, 4-4'-diapo-zeta-carotene, 4,4'-diapo-7,8,11,12-tetrahydrolycopene, and 4,4'-diaponeurosporene and the xanthophylls 4,4'-diaponeurosporenal, 4,4'-diaponeurosporenoic acid, and glucosyl diaponeurosporenoate were also identified, together with some of their isomers or breakdown products. The symmetrical 4,4'-diapo- structure was adopted for these triterpenoid carotenoids, but an alternative unsymmetrical 8'-apo-structure could not be excluded.
D002338:Carotenoids / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D014975:Lutein / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000032:analysis*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000032:analysis*; D024341:Xanthophylls
D014315:Triterpenes; D024341:Xanthophylls; D002338:Carotenoids; C031841:staphyloxanthin; D014975:Lutein