Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health problem in developing countries. Some studies also implicate a suboptimal vitamin A intake in certain parts of the population of the industrialized world. Provitamin A carotenoids such as β-carotene are the major source for retinoids (vitamin A and its derivatives) in the human diet. However, it is still controversial how much β-carotene intake is r...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a staple food in many parts of Africa, but the endosperm generally contains low levels of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid β-carotene, leading to vitamin A deficiency disease in populations relying on cereal-based diets. However, maize endosperm does accumulate high levels of other carotenoids, including zeaxanthin, which is derived from β-carotene via two hydroxylation react...

Microalgae are a natural source of lipids, carotenoids, and other value-added compounds. The combination nutrients their precise ratio have significant impact on the productivity microalgae-mediated biomass, lipid, chlorophyll, carotenoid production three microalgae species, namely, Monoraphidium sp., Chlorella sorokiniana, Scenedesmus obliquus, were investigated by employing standard photoauto...

Winter squash "type butternut" is harvested in physiological ripening for better commercial distribution, when sensory and/or nutritional quality is not optimum for consumption. The objective of this study was to quantify the content of α-carotene, β-carotene, color and dry matter in the pulp of raw and microwave-cooked winter squash "type butternut" (variety CosmoF1) in three states of commerc...

The Raman spectra of all-trans-lycopene in n-hexane were measured under high pressure, and the results compared with those of β-carotene. The different pressure effects on Raman spectra are analyzed taking into account the different structures of lycopene and β-carotene molecules. It is concluded that: (a) the vibronic coupling between the S₁ and S₀ states of β-carotene is stronger than that of...

Esophageal cancer is a common malignant tumor occurring in human esophageal epithelial tissue. The primary purpose of this paper was to define the effects of β-carotene and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, alone and in combination, on cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis of human esophageal cancer EC9706 cells. Treatment with different concentrations of β-carotene and/or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin ...

Giant unilamellar vesicles of soy phosphatidylcholine are found to undergo budding when sensitized with chlorophyll a ([phosphatidylcholine] : [chlorophyll a] = 1500 : 1) under light irradiation (400-440 nm, 16 mW mm(-2)). 'Entropy' as a dimensionless image heterogeneity measurement is found to increase linearly with time during an initial budding process. For β-carotene addition ([phosphatidyl...

Development of vitamin A-rich cereals can help in alleviating the widespread problem of vitamin A deficiency. We report here significant enhancement of kernel β-carotene in elite maize genotypes through accelerated marker-assisted backcross breeding. A favourable allele (543 bp) of the β-carotene hydroxylase (crtRB1) gene was introgressed in the seven elite inbred parents, which were low (1.4 µ...

Corynebacterium glutamicum shows yellow pigmentation due to biosynthesis of the C50 carotenoid decaprenoxanthin and its glycosides. This bacterium has been engineered for production of various non-native cyclic C40 and C50 carotenoids such as β-carotene, astaxanthin or sarcinaxanthin. In this study, the effect of modulating gene expression more broadly by overexpression of sigma factor genes on...

BACKGROUND β,β-Carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase (BCMO1) converts β-carotene to retinaldehyde. Increased β-carotene consumption is linked to antitumor effects. Retinoic acid reduces the invasiveness in cancer, through inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In our studies of a mouse model that develops intestinal tumors after low dietary folate, we found reduced BCMO1 expression in normal p...