In wild birds, the proximate and ultimate factors that affect circulating carotenoid concentrations remain poorly understood. We studied variation in plasma carotenoid concentrations across several scales: annual, seasonal, pair, territory and individual, and evaluated whether carotenoid levels explained reproductive outcome of wild American kestrels (Falco sparverius). We sampled plasma carote...

The factors that regulate storage organ carotenoid content remain to be fully elucidated, despite the nutritional and economic importance of this class of compound. Recent findings suggest that carotenoid pool size is determined, at least in part, by the activity of carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Carotenoid Cleavage Dioxygenase4 (CCD4) activit...

Fruit waste extract was selected as the sole substrate for carotenoid production and the effect of parameters like pH, temperature and agitation have been studied. A two-step simple sequential strategy was employed for the optimization of carotenoid production by Rhodotorula rubra. In the first step, one factor at a time was employed to evaluate the impact of pH on carotenoid production. Th...

In the present study, to investigate the mechanisms regulating carotenoid accumulation in citrus, a culture system was set up in vitro with juice sacs of three citrus varieties, Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.), Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), and Lisbon lemon (Citrus limon Burm.f.). The juice sacs of all the three varieties enlarged gradually with carotenoid accumulation. The c...

Carotenoid pigments are a widespread source of ornamental coloration in vertebrates and expression of carotenoid-based colour displays has been shown to serve as an important criterion in female mate choice in birds and fishes. Unlike other integumentary pigments, carotenoids cannot be synthesized; they must be ingested. Carotenoid-based coloration is condition-dependent and has been shown to b...

BACKGROUND Animals use carotenoid-pigments for coloration, as antioxidants and as enhancers of the immune system. Carotenoid-dependent colours can thus signal individual quality and carotenoids have also been suggested to mediate life-history trade-offs. METHODOLOGY To examine trade-offs in carotenoid allocation between parents and the young, or between skin coloration and plasma of the paren...

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers contain a wide range of carotenoid contents. To decipher the key factors controlling carotenoid levels in tubers, four potato lines (Atlantic, Désirée, 91E22 and POR03) were examined by a combination of biochemical, molecular and genomics approaches. These lines contained incremental levels of carotenoids, which were found to be associated with enhanced capa...

In recent years, scientists and researchers from all over the world pay much attention to carotenoid pigments as a substitute for antibiotics and synthetic chemical compounds with antioxidant property and the plants, various microorganisms including bacteria and algae are also capable of producing carotenoid pigments. In this research, the production of antimicrobial and antioxidant carotenoid ...

to assess nickel-induced toxicity in plants, zea mays seeds were germinated and cultured on nutrient solution with nickel concentrations of 0, 50, 100 and 200 μm for a period of two weeks. its effects on the growth, hill reaction and photosynthetic pigments content were then investigated. the fresh and dry weight of leaves and roots increased in 50 μm nickel, but decreased in 100 and 200 μm. th...