Xanthophylls (originally phylloxanthins) are yellow

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...

s that occur widely in nature and form one of two major divisions of the

carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, ...

group; the other division is formed by the carotenes. The name is from Greek (, "yellow") and (, "leaf"), due to their formation of the yellow band seen in early chromatography of

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

pigments.

Molecular structure

As both are carotenoids, xanthophylls and carotenes are similar in structure, but xanthophylls contain

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well ...

atoms while carotenes are ''purely

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

s'', which do not contain oxygen. Their content of oxygen causes xanthophylls to be more polar (in molecular structure) than carotenes, and causes their separation from carotenes in many types of chromatography. (Carotenes are usually more orange in color than xanthophylls.) Xanthophylls present their oxygen either as

hydroxyl group In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy ...

s and/or as hydrogen atoms substituted by oxygen atoms when acting as a bridge to form

epoxide In organic chemistry, an epoxide is a cyclic ether () with a three-atom ring. This ring approximates an equilateral triangle, which makes it strained, and hence highly reactive, more so than other ethers. They are produced on a large scale f ...

Occurrence

Like other carotenoids, xanthophylls are found in highest quantity in the

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

of most green

plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

, where they act to modulate light energy and perhaps serve as a

non-photochemical quenching Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a mechanism employed by plants and algae to protect themselves from the adverse effects of high light intensity. It involves the quenching of singlet excited state chlorophylls (Chl) via enhanced internal conv ...

agent to deal with triplet

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to ...

(an excited form of chlorophyll), which is overproduced at high light levels in photosynthesis. The xanthophylls found in the bodies of animals including humans, and in dietary animal products, are ultimately derived from plant sources in the diet. For example, the yellow color of chicken

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

s, fat, and skin comes from ingested xanthophylls—primarily

lutein Lutein (;"Lutein"

macula lutea The macula (/ˈmakjʊlə/) or macula lutea is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avas ...

(literally, ''yellow spot'') in the

retina The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which then p ...

of the human eye results from the presence of

lutein Lutein (;"Lutein"

zeaxanthin Zeaxanthin is one of the most common carotenoids in nature, and is used in the xanthophyll cycle. Synthesized in plants and some micro-organisms, it is the pigment that gives paprika (made from bell peppers), corn, saffron, goji ( wolfberries), ...

. Again, both these specific xanthophylls require a source in the human diet to be present in the human eye. They protect the eye from ionizing light (blue and ultraviolet light), which they absorb; but xanthophylls do not function in the mechanism of sight itself as they cannot be converted to

retinal Retinal (also known as retinaldehyde) is a polyene chromophore. Retinal, bound to proteins called opsins, is the chemical basis of visual phototransduction, the light-detection stage of visual perception (vision). Some microorganisms use retina ...

(also called retinaldehyde or

vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably beta- ...

aldehyde). Their physical arrangement in the macula lutea is believed to be the cause of

Haidinger's brush Haidinger's brush, more commonly known as Haidinger's brushes is an image produced by the eye, an entoptic phenomenon, first described by Austrian physicist Wilhelm Karl von Haidinger in 1844. Haidinger saw it when he looked through various mine ...

, an

entoptic phenomenon Entoptic phenomena () are visual effects whose source is within the human eye itself. (Occasionally, these are called entopic phenomena, which is probably a typographical mistake.) In Helmholtz's words: "Under suitable conditions light falling o ...

that enables perception of polarizing light.

Example compounds

The group of xanthophylls includes (among many other compounds)

lutein Lutein (;"Lutein"

neoxanthin Neoxanthin is a carotenoid and xanthophyll. In plants, it is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the plant hormone abscisic acid. It is often present in two forms: all-trans and 9-cis isomers. It is produced from violaxanthin, but a suspecte ...

violaxanthin Violaxanthin is a xanthophyll pigment with an orange color found in a variety of plants. Violaxanthin is the product of the epoxidation of zeaxanthin where the oxygen atoms are from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Such ROS's arise when a plant ...

flavoxanthin Flavoxanthin is a natural xanthophyll pigment with a golden-yellow color found in small quantities in a variety of plants. As a food additive it used under the E number E161a as a food coloring although it is not approved for use in the EU or USA ...

, and α- and β- cryptoxanthin. The latter compound is the only known xanthophyll to contain a beta-ionone ring, and thus β- cryptoxanthin is the only xanthophyll that is known to possess pro-vitamin A activity for mammals. Even then, it is a vitamin only for plant-eating mammals that possess the enzyme to make retinal from carotenoids that contain beta-ionone (some carnivores lack this enzyme). In species other than mammals, certain xanthophylls may be converted to hydroxylated retinal-analogues that function directly in vision. For example, with the exception of certain flies, most insects use the xanthophyll derived R-isomer of 3-hydroxyretinal for visual activities, which means that β- cryptoxanthin and other xanthophylls (such as lutein and zeaxanthin) may function as forms of visual "vitamin A" for them, while carotenes (such as beta carotene) do not.

Xanthophyll cycle

The xanthophyll cycle involves the enzymatic removal of epoxy groups from xanthophylls (e.g.

antheraxanthin Antheraxanthin (from ''ánthos'', Greek for "flower" and ''xanthos'', Greek for "yellow") is a bright yellow accessory pigment found in many organisms that perform photosynthesis. It is a xanthophyll cycle pigment, an oil-soluble alcohol within th ...

diadinoxanthin Diadinoxanthin is a pigment found in phytoplankton. It has the formula C40H54O3. It gives rise to the xanthophylls diatoxanthin and dinoxanthin. Diadinoxanthin is a plastid pigment. Plastid pigments include chlorophylls a and c, fucoxanthin, het ...

) to create so-called de-epoxidised xanthophylls (e.g.

diatoxanthin Diatoxanthin is a type of xanthophyll found in phytoplankton and diatom A diatom ( Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, ...

). These enzymatic cycles were found to play a key role in stimulating energy dissipation within light-harvesting antenna proteins by

- a mechanism to reduce the amount of energy that reaches the photosynthetic reaction centers. Non-photochemical quenching is one of the main ways of protecting against

photoinhibition Photoinhibition is light-induced reduction in the photosynthetic capacity of a plant, alga, or cyanobacterium. Photosystem II (PSII) is more sensitive to light than the rest of the photosynthetic machinery, and most researchers define the term as ...

. In higher plants, there are three carotenoid pigments that are active in the xanthophyll cycle: violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and zeaxanthin. During light stress, violaxanthin is converted, i.e. reduced, to zeaxanthin via the intermediate antheraxanthin, which plays a direct photoprotective role acting as a lipid-protective

anti-oxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricants, ...

and by stimulating non-photochemical quenching within light-harvesting proteins. This conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin is done by the enzyme violaxanthin de-epoxidase ( ECbr>1.23.5.1
, while the reverse reaction, i.e. oxidation, is performed by zeaxanthin epoxidase ( ECbr>1.14.15.21
. In

diatoms A diatom ( Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising se ...

and

dinoflagellates The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

, the xanthophyll cycle consists of the pigment

, which is transformed into

(diatoms) or dinoxanthin (dinoflagellates) under high-light conditions. Wright et al. (Feb 2011) found that, "The increase in zeaxanthin appears to surpass the decrease in violaxanthin in spinach" and commented that the discrepancy could be explained by "a synthesis of zeaxanthin from beta-carotene", however they noted further study is required to explore this hypothesis.

Food sources

Xanthophylls are found in all young leaves and in etiolated leaves. Examples of other rich sources include papaya, peaches, prunes, and squash, which contain lutein diesters.

Kale Kale (), or leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars grown for their edible leaves, although some are used as ornamentals. Kale plants have green or purple leaves, and the central leaves do not form a hea ...

contains about 18mg lutein and zeaxanthin per 100g,

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either fr ...

about 11mg/100g,

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, ...

about 6mg/100g,

peas The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

about 3mg/110g,

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

about 2mg/100g, and

pistachios The pistachio (, ''Pistacia vera''), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. ''Pistacia vera'' is often confused with other spe ...

about 1mg/100g.

References

*Demmig-Adams, B & W. W. Adams, 2006. Photoprotection in an ecological context: the remarkable complexity of thermal energy dissipation, New Phytologist, 172: 11–21.

External links

* {{Carotenoids Carotenoids Fatty alcohols