A Carotene Precursor: Its Proposed Structure and Place in Biosynthetic Sequence
Abstract
The isoprenoids, cholesterol and rubber, are known to arise from mevalonic (3,5-dihydroxy-3-methylvaleric) acid (5, 7). The same is true of carotenes (1, 6). Thus it has been found in this laboratory that mevalonic acid is rapidly incorporated into carotenes and related compounds in the tomato fruit (6). The hydrocarbon fraction of tomatoes previously incubated with 2-C14-mevalonate contains radioactivity, however, not only in the known carotenes but also in a previously undescribed, · colorless polyene which possesses absorption maxima at 208 nw and 231 mμ, The high specific activity of this compound, which has been referred to as fraction II (6), suggests that it may be a precursor of carotenes. This paper reports further experiments pertaining to the identity of fraction II and to its role in the biosynthesis of carotenoids.
Additional Information
© 1960 American Society of Plant Biologists. Received February 12, 1960. Work conducted in the Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology under a Memorandum of Understanding between the California Institute of Technology and the United States Department of Agriculture. The authors wish to express their appreciation to the Spectroscopy Unit of the Instrumentation and Analysis Group, Southern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture for certain of the infrared analyses.Attached Files
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC406024
- Eprint ID
- 62769
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151210-081315670
- Created
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2015-12-10Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field