Metabolism

Thommen, H.

doi:10.1007/978-3-0348-5831-1_8

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 84 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…First, queleas in captivity displayed the same range of hues and shades seen in wild birds (¢gure 1c,d), despite being fed an unsupplemented diet of seed only (millet). In other species, carotenoid-based plumages are often duller and more yellow when males are kept in captivity and maintained on diets that are not enhanced with supplementary carotenoids (Thommen 1971;Hill 1992Hill , 1999. Since the captive queleas' diet contained little, if any, of the speci¢c carotenoid pigments they deposited in their plumage, the source of these pigments was probably the metabolic conversion of the yellow carotenoids lutein and/or zeanthin, which were present in their diet in signi¢cant amounts (Thommen 1971;R.…”

Section: (B) Second Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ornamental plumage does not signal male quality in red-billed queleas

Dale

2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sexually selected ornaments often function as condition-dependent signals of quality (or`indicators'). When ornamentation is costly, only high-quality individuals can a¡ord to produce the most elaborate signals. The plumage ornamentation of male red-billed queleas, Quelea quelea, is an ideal candidate for an indicator because it is continuously variable, conspicuous, sexually dimorphic, is displayed only during breeding and is partially based on carotenoid pigmentation. However, I show here that quelea plumage is not an indicator because ¢rst, plumage colour is not correlated with physical condition or age; second, plumage colour is a genetically determined phenotype that is unresponsive to environmental variation; third, di¡erent plumage characters have bimodal distributions; fourth, plumage characters vary independently of one another; and ¢nally, plumage colour is not correlated with reproductive success. To my knowledge, this is the ¢rst demonstration of non-condition dependence in colourful and sexually dimorphic breeding ornamentation. Instead, plumage variation may function as a sexually selected signal of individual identity among territorial males that nest in huge, densely packed and highly synchronized colonies.

show abstract

Section: (B) Second Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ornamental plumage does not signal male quality in red-billed queleas

Dale

2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are, so far, four different ways known to introduce a 4-keto group to carotenoid b-rings, and four different enzymes have been identified, as well, that introduce a 3-hydroxyl group (see legend to Figure 7). However, additional enzymes that catalyze these reactions likely still remain to be discovered, given that certain insects, fish, and birds have been found able to convert ingested b-carotene and/ or zeaxanthin into astaxanthin and other 4-ketocarotenoids (Thommen, 1971;Goodwin, 1986). (A) Time-course study for an E. coli culture wherein cells contained plasmids pAC-BETA and pCBFD2Bad.…”

Section: Several and Sundry Routes To Astaxanthinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elucidation of the Pathway to Astaxanthin in the Flowers of Adonis aestivalis

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A few species in the genus Adonis are the only land plants known to produce the valuable red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin in abundance. Here, we ascertain the pathway that leads from the b-rings of b-carotene, a carotenoid ubiquitous in plants, to the 3-hydroxy-4-keto-b-rings of astaxanthin (3,39-dihydroxy-b,b-carotene-4,4'-dione) in the blood-red flowers of Adonis aestivalis, an ornamental and medicinal plant commonly known as summer pheasant's eye. Two gene products were found to catalyze three distinct reactions, with the first and third reactions of the pathway catalyzed by the same enzyme. The pathway commences with the activation of the number 4 carbon of a b-ring in a reaction catalyzed by a carotenoid b-ring 4-dehydrogenase (CBFD), continues with the further dehydrogenation of this carbon to yield a carbonyl in a reaction catalyzed by a carotenoid 4-hydroxy-b-ring 4-dehydrogenase, and concludes with the addition of an hydroxyl group at the number 3 carbon in a reaction catalyzed by the erstwhile CBFD enzyme. The A. aestivalis pathway is both portable and robust, functioning efficiently in a simple bacterial host. Our elucidation of the pathway to astaxanthin in A. aestivalis provides enabling technology for development of a biological production process and reveals the evolutionary origin of this unusual plant pathway, one unrelated to and distinctly different from those used by bacteria, green algae, and fungi to synthesize astaxanthin.

show abstract

“…Thommen, 1971). These metabolic reactions may be controlled by endocrine factors in those insects, which respond to an environmental stimulus by a change of their carotenoid pigmentation, as the pupae of Papilio xuthus (Harashima eta/., 1972).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Thommen, 1971). During studies of carotenoid metabolism in insects in relation to the physiological responses just cited, a lutein-like carotenoid was isolated from two moth species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of 3-hydroxy-β,ε-caroten-3′-one from two moth species,Actias selene andCerura vinula

Kayser

1975

J Comp Physiol B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary. 3-Hydroxy-fl,e-caroten-3'-one (3'-dehydrolutein) was isolated from the moths Actias selene and Cerura vinula. The structure is based on chemical, chromatographical, electron, and mass spectroscopic data. The carotenoid is identical to a semi-synthetic sample obtained from lutein by Oppenauer oxidation. It seems to be widespread among Saturuiid and other moths, and is probably derived from dietary lutein.

show abstract

Metabolism

Cited by 22 publications

References 84 publications

Ornamental plumage does not signal male quality in red-billed queleas

Ornamental plumage does not signal male quality in red-billed queleas

Elucidation of the Pathway to Astaxanthin in the Flowers of Adonis aestivalis

Isolation of 3-hydroxy-β,ε-caroten-3′-one from two moth species,Actias selene andCerura vinula

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About