Genetics and molecular biology of carotenoid pigment biosynthesis

@article{Armstrong1996GeneticsAM,
  title={Genetics and molecular biology of carotenoid pigment biosynthesis},
  author={Gregory A. Armstrong and J. E. Hearst},
  journal={The FASEB Journal},
  year={1996},
  volume={10},
  pages={228 - 237}
}
The crucial roles of carotenoids and their metabolites in photooxidative protection and photosynthesis, not to mention nutrition, vision, and cellular differentiation, make them an important and complex class of biological pigments. Significant advances within the last few years have enhanced our understanding of the genetics and molecular biology of carotenoid biosynthesis in bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants. All of the genes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis from Rhodobacter capsulatus… Expand
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[17] Molecular biology of carotenoid biosynthesis in photosynthetic organisms
TLDR
All carotenoids are related biosynthetically and share a common early pathway with other isoprenoids, and these reactions, in which mevalonate is an important intermediate, yield the monomer building block for all products in theIsoprenoid pathway, the C 5 molecule isopentyl diphosphate. Expand
Pigment Biosynthesis: Chlorophylls, Heme, and Carotenoids
The two major pigments found in photosynthetic eukaryotic cells are the tetrapyrroles (including chlorophylls, heme, and their derivatives) and the carotenoids. Both of these classes of molecules… Expand
An update on carotenoid biosynthesis in algae: phylogenetic evidence for the existence of two classes of phytoene synthase
TLDR
The discovery of two classes of PSY gene families in some algae suggests that carotenoid biosynthesis in these algae is differentially regulated in response to development and environmental stress as well. Expand
Biological roles of fungal carotenoids
TLDR
F fungi have adapted their ability to produce carotenoids for different non-essential functions, related with stress tolerance or with the synthesis of physiologically active by-products. Expand
Biosynthesis of Carotenoids in the Chloroplasts of Algae and Higher Plants
  • V. Ladygin
  • Biology
  • Russian Journal of Plant Physiology
  • 2004
Physiological, biochemical, and genetic aspects of carotenoid biosynthesis in the chloroplast membranes of green algae and higher plants are discussed starting from the earliest stages of… Expand
Genetics of eubacterial carotenoid biosynthesis: a colorful tale.
  • G. Armstrong
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Annual review of microbiology
  • 1997
TLDR
This work has shown that within the last decade, major advances have been made in the elucidation of the molecular genetics, the biochemistry, and the regulation of eubacterial carotenoid biosynthesis, which have important implications for eukaryotes and they make increasingly attractive the genetic manipulation of carOTenoid content for biotechnological purposes. Expand
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the landscape of pigments.
This review focuses on the biosynthesis of pigments in the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and their physiological and regulatory functions in the context of information gathered from… Expand
Metabolic engineering for the microbial production of carotenoids and related products with a focus on the rare C50 carotenoids
TLDR
Common strategies for optimizing lycopene production are summarized and a review on the characteristics, biosynthesis, glycosylation, and overproduction of C50 carotenoids is focused on. Expand
Molecular Evolution of Lycopene Cyclases Involved in the Formation of Carotenoids in Eukaryotic Algae
TLDR
It is proposed that the CCS evolved from a duplicated LCYB, which suggests that carotenoid biosynthesis is differentially regulated in response to development and environmental stress in these algae, like members of LCY families are differentiallyregulated during development or stress in some higher plants. Expand
GENES AND ENZYMES OF CAROTENOID BIOSYNTHESIS IN PLANTS.
TLDR
This review focuses on recent findings as to the structure and function of genes encoding nearly all of the enzymes required for the biosynthesis of these indispensable pigments and the enzymes they encode. Expand
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References

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TLDR
The nucleotide sequence of three genes from the carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster of Erwinia herbicola are reported, which encode homologs of the CrtB, CrtE, and CrtI proteins of Rhodobacter capsulatus, a purple nonsulfur photosynthetic bacterium, suggesting the evolutionary conservation of early enzymes from this pathway. Expand
Evolutionary conservation and structural similarities of carotenoid biosynthesis gene products from photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic organisms.
TLDR
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TLDR
This chapter discusses the regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis, which is related biosynthetically and share a common early pathway with other biologically important isoprenoids such as sterols, gibberellins, and terpenoid quinines. Expand
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TLDR
The functional compatibility of enzymes from different organisms will form a central theme in the genetic engineering of carotenoid pigment biosynthetic pathways and create exciting possibilities for the directed manipulation of carOTenoid levels and content. Expand
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TLDR
The most important function of carotenoid pigments, especially beta-carotene in higher plants, is to protect organisms against photooxidative damage, and this work has elucidated for the first time the pathway for biosynthesis of theseCarotenoids at the level of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, using bacterial carOTenoid biosynthesis genes. Expand
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TLDR
It is concluded that pds1 is a nuclear gene encoding a phytoene desaturase enzyme that, as its microbial counterparts, contains sequence motifs characteristic of flavoproteins. Expand
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TLDR
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TLDR
The cloned and sequenced Cercospora nicotianae gene for the carotenoid biosynthetic enzyme phytoene dehydrogenase revealed it has greater than 50% identity with its counterpart in Neurospora crassa and is related, but more distantly, tophytoenes dehydrogenases from plants and cyanobacteria. Expand
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TLDR
The transcription initiation point is located and it is shown that R. sphaeroides possesses an oxygen-regulated CrtI-type phytoene desaturase gene that forms a transcriptional operon with crtB, and evidence for the existence of a crtIB operon is presented. Expand
[18] Functions of carotenoids in photosynthesis
Publisher Summary Carotenoids are essential for the survival of photosynthetic organisms. Carotenoids have been shown to have two major functions in photosynthesis. They act as photoprotective… Expand
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