Abstract
TrentepohliaMartius, a dominant green subaerial alga, grows abundantly in Shillong and imparts the yellow, red, and orange colours to most of the tree barks, walls, rocks, and electric poles because of high accumulation of carotenoids in their filaments. This study emphasised the seasonal changes in carotenoid content amongst four different species ofTrentepohlia, that is,T. diffracta,T. arborum,T. umbrina, andT. abietina, collected from four different substrata, that is, wall, rock, electric pole, and three types of tree bark (smooth, fissured, and rough). Quantitative estimation of different carotenoids, namely,β-cryptoxanthin, lutein, andβ-carotene, from HPLC chromatogram peak showed a significant seasonal variation in all of the four species andβ-carotene was threefold more in winter compared to summer. Amongst the selected species,T. diffractacollected from wall contained the highest amount ofβ-carotene both in summer and in winter, followed byT. arborumfrom rock andT. abietinafrom bark, and least amount was inT. umbrinacollected from electric pole. Comparing the carotenoid content inTrentepohlia abietinagrowing in different types of barks, sample from smooth bark had the highest amount of carotenoids both in summer and in winter, followed by the sample from rough bark, and lowest amount was noted in fissured bark.
Highlights
Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigments synthesized by plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria
T. umbrina collected from electric pole where it was only 36.06 mg g−1 in summer and 38.92 mg g−1 in winter (Figure 1)
Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant difference in total carotenoids content between winter and summer (P = 0.011), but there was no significant difference amongst the different species of Trentepohlia (P = 0.678)
Summary
Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigments synthesized by plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria. Carotenoids have received tremendous attention because of their various functions in plants, animals, and humans. Carotenoids have the important antioxidant function of quenching singlet oxygen formed during photosynthesis [2]. These compounds are precursors of vitamin A and retinoid compounds required for morphogenesis in animals and humans [3, 4]. Carotenoids are widely utilised in pharmaceutical purposes as health supplements and in food industries as natural colorants [5]. Β-Carotene and β-cryptoxanthin are two carotenoids that show essential functions in humans where they serve as source of vitamin A [6, 7].
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