title: Carotenoids and carotenoproteins in Asellus aquaticus L. (Crustacea: Isopoda).
abstract: Column (CC), thin-layer (TLC), high-performance liquid (HPLC) and ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), were used to investigate corotenoid and carotenoprotein complexes in Asellus aquaticus specimens from the Narew river. The following carotenoids were found: alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, diadinoxanthin, mutatoxanthin, crustaxanthin, echinenone, hydroxyechinenone, phoenicoxanthin, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. Astaxanthin (37.5%), canthaxanthin (21.4%) and phoenicoxanthin (12.3%) were found in the largest amounts. The total carotenoid content was 13.824 microg g(-1) of dry mass. Carotenoprotein complexes containing astaxanthin as the prosthetic group were purified from Asellus aquaticus. The carotenoprotein complexes belonged to the crustacyanins group as alpha- and gamma-crustacyanin. The protein forming the alpha-crustacyanin contained large amounts of such amino-acids as asparic acid, glutamic acid and leucine, whereas the protein of the gamma-crustacyanin contained primarily glutamic acid, glycine and lysine.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Biology, Medical University, Kilińiskiego 1, 15-089 Białystok, Poland. bazzylio@poczta.onet.pl
authors.forename: Bazyli
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Czeczuga
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Czeczuga-Semeniuk
authors.forename: Adrianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Semeniuk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D033321:Isopoda / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D002338:Carotenoids