The use of ascomycetous fungi as pigment producers opens the way to an alternative to synthetic dyes, especially in the red-dye industries, which have very few natural pigment alternatives. The present paper aimed to bio-prospect and screen out 15 selected ascomycetous fungal strains, originating from terrestrial and marine habitats belonging to seven different genera (Penicillium, Talaromyces,...

PURPOSE To determine the size variation of the X-chromosomal human red and green visual pigment gene array in the general population using pulsed field gel electrophoresis and Southern blotting. METHODS Peripheral blood lymphocytes were prepared from 67 anonymous males. The cells were embedded in agarose and the genomic DNA digested with restriction enzyme Not I. The resulting DNA fragments w...

When integumentary tissue pigments are contained in chromatophores, tissue color might not depend exclusively on the amount of pigment. Whether coloration does or does not reflect pigment concentration may be very significant for intraspecific communication, for example when pigment concentration provides fitness-related information. We studied the pigment responsible for the orange/red ventral...

Our ability to see in bright light depends critically on the rapid rate at which cone photoreceptors detect and adapt to changes in illumination. This is achieved, in part, by their rapid response termination. In this study, we investigate the hypothesis that this rapid termination of the response in red cones is dependent on interactions between the 9-methyl group of retinal and red cone opsin...

Kinetin induces formation of red pigment in seedlings of Amaranthus retroflexus in the dark. This effect is similar to the light-induced formation of pigment. Light and kinetin do not act in a simple additive way. The pigment is not an anthocyanin, and its formation is not affected by inhibitors of anthocyanin formation.

Precarthamin, a yellow precursor of carthamin, was efficiently isolated from the yellow petals of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L. ) with Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and preparative HPLC, and identified with UV-vis and NMR spectrometry. The UV-vis spectrum of precarthamin showed lambda(max) of 238 and 406 nm in MeOH. The molar extinction coefficients of precarthamin at 406 nm in MeOH...

Skin color is determined by epidermal melanin content, the function of which remains poorly understood. Clinically, there is a lower incidence of melanoma in individuals with high levels of constitutive brown/black pigment and/or acquired pigmentation (i.e. tanning). Conversely, individuals with red hair, blue eyes, and inability to tan are at higher risk for developing melanoma. Therefore, pig...

The characteristic dark color of Diadema antillarum is chiefly attributable to a black pigment, most of which is contained in large epidermal chromatophores (see Fig. 1). A red pigment is also present, but is easily separable from the black, being readily soluble in ethanol and acetone, whereas the black is not. The nature of the red pigment is unknown and we have not studied its properties. Co...

Mating behaviour and predation avoidance in Heliconius involve visual colour signals; however, there is considerable inter-individual phenotypic variation in the appearance of colours. In particular, the red pigment varies from bright crimson to faded red. It has been thought that this variation is primarily due to pigment fading with age, although this has not been explicitly tested. Previous ...