Spectral sensitivity of cones in the goldfish, Carassius auratus

The spectral sensitivities of retinal cones isolated from goldfish (Carassius auratus) retinas were measured in the range 277-737 nm by recording membrane photocurrents with suction pipette electrodes (SPE). Cones were identified with lambda max (+/- S.D.) at 623 +/- 6.9 nm, 537 +/- 4.7 nm, 447 +/- 7.7 nm, and about 356 nm (three cells). Two cells (lambda max 572 and 576 nm) possibly represent genetic polymorphism. A single A2 template fits the alpha-band of P447(2), P537(2), and P623(2). HPLC analysis showed 4% retinal:96% 3-dehydroretinal. Sensitivity at 280 nm is nearly half that at the lambda max in the visible. The lambda max of the beta-band (in nm) is a linear function of the lambda max of the alpha-band and follows the same relation as found for A1-based cone pigments of a cyprinid fish.     

Functional knockout of the transient outward current, long-QT syndrome, and cardiac remodeling in mice expressing a dominant-negative Kv4 alpha subunit

Amino acid changes S180A (S-->A at site 180), H197Y, Y277F, T285A, and A308S are known to shift the maximum wavelength of absorption (lambda max) of red and green visual pigments toward blue, essentially in an additive fashion. To test the generality of this "five-sites" rule, we have determined the partial amino acid sequences of red and green pigments from five mammalian orders (Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla, and Rodentia). The result suggests that cat (Felis catus), dog (Canis familiaris), and goat (Capra hircus) pigments all with AHYTA at the five critical sites have lambda max values of approximately 530 nm, whereas rat (Rattus norvegicus) pigment with AYYTS has a lambda max value of approximately 510 nm, which is accurately predicted by the five-sites rule. However, the observed lambda max values of the orthologous pigments of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), and guinea pig (Cavia procellus) are consistently more than 10 nm higher than the predicted values, suggesting the existence of additional molecular mechanisms for red and green color vision. The inferred amino acid sequences of ancestral organisms suggest that the extant mammalian red and green pigments appear to have evolved from a single ancestral green-red hybrid pigment by directed amino acid substitutions.     

A third, ultraviolet-sensitive, visual pigment in the Tokay gecko (Gekko gekko)

Numerous extraction and microspectrophotometric studies have shown that the nocturnal Tokay gecko (Gekko gekko), has two visual pigments: a "green" with lambda max at 521 nm and a "blue" at 467 nm. In addition, similar studies on other nocturnal gecko species have found only the same two classes of visual pigment. With the finding that some diurnal species of gecko have a third visual pigment class with lambda max peaking in the UV, doubts were raised concerning the presence of only two visual pigment classes in nocturnal forms. Therefore, a microspectrophotometric re-examination of the Tokay gecko was undertaken to look specifically for a UV visual pigment. A UV-absorbing pigment (364 nm lambda max) was found in approx. 20% of the thin outer segments of type C double rods, thought previously to contain only the 467 nm pigment. That this UV-absorbing pigment was truly a visual pigment was confirmed by its dichroism, behaviour following exposure to UV radiation and "nomogram" fit. It is suggested that this visual pigment had been seen in previous microspectrophotometric studies, but its similarity to known photoproducts peaking in the same spectral region resulted in a case of mistaken identity.     

Spectral transmission and short-wave absorbing pigments in the fish lens--I. Phylogenetic distribution and identity

Fish lens transmission was found to vary depending on the type and concentration of short-wave absorbing compounds present within the lens. Pigments extracted from lenses of ten species were identified as mycosporine-like amino acids (mainly palythine, palythene and asterina-330, lambda maxs around 320-360 nm) which are also thought to be present in the majority of the 120 species examined here. A novel mycosporine-like pigment with lambda max 385 nm was isolated from the lens of the flying fish, Exocoetus obtusirostris, while lenses of several closely related tropical freshwater species were found to have high concentrations of the tryptophan catabolite 3-hydroxykynurenine (lambda max 370 nm). The type of lens pigment a species possesses and its concentration depends upon both the animal's phylogenetic group and its "optical niche".     

Switch in rod opsin gene expression in the European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.)

The rod photoreceptors of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), alter their wavelength of maximum sensitivity (lambda max) from c.a. 523 nm to c.a. 482 nm at maturation, a switch involving the synthesis of a new visual pigment protein (opsin) that is inserted into the outer segments of existing rods. We artificially induced the switch in rod opsin production by the administration of hormones, and monitored the switch at the level of mRNA accumulation using radiolabelled oligonuleotides that hybridized differently to the two forms of eel rod opsin. The production of the deep-sea form of rod opsin was detected 6 h after the first hormone injection, and the switch in rod opsin expression was complete within four weeks, at which time only the mRNA for the deep-sea opsin was detectable in the retinal cells. It is suggested that this system could be used as a tractable model for studying the regulatory control of opsin gene expression.     

Nanosecond laser photolysis of iodopsin, a chicken red-sensitive cone visual pigment

The photobleaching process of iodopsin (a chicken red-sensitive cone visual pigment) purified in a detergent system containing CHAPS and phosphatidylcholine was investigated by means of nanosecond laser photolysis at room temperature. Excitation of iodopsin with a nanosecond laser pulse (wavelength, 560 nm; pulse width, 17 ns) resulted in the formation of at least four intermediates on the nanosecond to millisecond time scale. The earliest intermediate detected had an absorption maximum at 571 nm, which was very close to that of original iodopsin (lambda max = 567 nm), and remarkably blue-shifted as compared with that of bathoiodopsin [lambda max = 625 nm; Kandori et al. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 8908-8912]. The intermediate, named BL-iodopsin, converted to the next intermediate, lumiiodopsin (lambda max = 535 nm), with a time constant of 130 ns. The BL intermediate had an absorption maximum just between batho- and lumiiodopsins, and an extinction coefficient comparable with these intermediates. These properties are different from those of the corresponding intermediate of rhodopsin [BL(BSI)-rhodopsin], suggesting that the binding of chloride to iodopsin, but not to rhodopsin, has an influence upon changes of the chromophore-opsin interaction in the early stage of photobleaching of iodopsin. Lumiiodopsin converted to metaiodopsin I (lambda max < 500 nm) with a time constant of 230 microseconds, and then to metaiodopsin II (lambda max = 390 nm) with a time constant of 6 ms. A thermal equilibrium between metaiodopsin I and II was established, but unlike meta intermediates of rhodopsin, they showed little temperature dependence.     

Red, green, and red-green hybrid pigments in the human retina: correlations between deduced protein sequences and psychophysically measured spectral sensitivities

To analyze the human red, green, and red-green hybrid cone pigments in vivo, we studied 41 male dichromats, each of whose X chromosome carries only a single visual pigment gene (single-gene dichromats). This simplified arrangement avoids the difficulties of complex opsin gene arrays and overlapping cone spectral sensitivities present in trichromats and of multiple genes encoding identical or nearly identical cone pigments in many dichromats. It thus allows for a straightforward correlation between each observer's spectral sensitivity measured at the cornea and the amino acid sequence of his visual pigment. For each of the 41 single-gene dichromats we determined the amino acid sequences of the X-linked cone pigment as deduced from its gene sequence. To correlate these sequences with spectral sensitivities in vivo, we determined the Rayleigh matches to different red/green ratios for 29 single-gene dichromats and measured psychophysically the spectral sensitivity of the remaining green (middle wavelength) or red (long wavelength) cones in 37 single-gene dichromats. Cone spectral sensitivity maxima obtained from subjects with identical visual pigment amino acid sequences show up to a approximately 3 nm variation from subject to subject, presumably because of a combination of inexact (or no) corrections for variation in preretinal absorption, variation in photopigment optical density, optical effects within the photoreceptor, and measurement error. This variation implies that spectral sensitivities must be averaged over multiple subjects with the same genotype to obtain representative values for a given pigment. The principal results of this study are that (1) approximately 54% of the single-gene protanopes (and approximately 19% of all protanopes) possess any one of several 5'red-3'green hybrid genes that encode anomalous pigments and that would be predicted to produce protanomaly if present in anomalous trichromats; (2) the alanine/serine polymorphism at position 180 in the red pigment gene produces a spectral shift of approximately 2.7 nm; (3) for each exon the set of amino acids normally associated with the red pigment produces spectral shifts to longer wavelengths, and the set of amino acids normally associated with the green pigment produces spectral shifts to shorter wavelengths; and (4) changes in exons 2, 3, 4, and 5 from green to red are associated with average spectral shifts to long wavelengths of approximately 1 nm (range, -0.5 to 2.5 nm), approximately 3.3 nm (range, -0.5 to 7 nm), approximately 2.8 nm (range, -0.5 to 6 nm), and approximately 24.9 nm (range, 22.2-27.6 nm).     

Visual pigments and oil droplets from six classes of photoreceptor in the retinas of birds

Microspectrophotometric examination of the retinal photoreceptors of the budgerigar (shell parakeet), Melopsittacus undulatus (Psittaciformes) and the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata (Passeriformes), demonstrate the presence of four, spectrally distinct classes of single cone that contain visual pigments absorbing maximally at about 565, 507, 430-445 and 360-380 nm. The three longer-wave cone classes contain coloured oil droplets acting as long pass filters with cut-offs at about 570, 500-520 and 445 nm, respectively, whereas the ultraviolet-sensitive cones contain a transparent droplet. The two species possess double cones in which both members contain the long-wave-sensitive visual pigment, but only the principal member contains an oil droplet, with cut-off at about 420 nm. A survey of the cones of the pigeon, Columba livia (Columbiformes), confirms the presence of the three longer-wave classes of single cone, but also reveals the presence of a fourth class containing a visual pigment with maximum absorbance at about 409 nm, combined with a transparent droplet. No evidence was found for a fifth, ultraviolet-sensitive receptor. In the chicken, Gallus gallus (Galliformes), the cone class with a transparent droplet contains "chicken violet" with maximum absorbance at about 418 nm. The rods of all four species contain visual pigments that are spectrally similar, with maximum absorbance between about 506 and 509 nm. Noticeably, in any given species, the maximum absorbance of the rods is spectrally very similar to the maximum absorbance of the middle-wavelength-sensitive cone pigments.     

Structure and stability of monomeric lambda repressor: NMR evidence for two-state folding

The absence of equilibrium intermediates in protein folding reactions (i.e., two-state folding) simplifies thermodynamic and kinetic analyses but is difficult to prove rigorously. We demonstrate a sensitive method for detecting partially folded species based on using proton chemical shifts as local probes of structure. The coincidence of denaturation curves for probes throughout the molecule is a particularly stringent test for two-state folding. In this study we investigate a new form of the N-terminal domain of bacteriophage lambda repressor consisting of residues 6-85 (lambda 6-85) using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism (CD). This truncated version lacks the residues required for dimerization and is monomeric under the conditions used for NMR. Heteronuclear NMR was used to assign the 1H, 15N, and backbone 13C resonances. The secondary and tertiary structure of lambda 6-85 is very similar to that reported for the crystal structure of the DNA-bound 1-92 fragment [Beamer, L. J., and Pabo, C. O. (1992) J. Mol. Biol. 227, 177-196], as judged by analysis of chemical shifts, amide hydrogen exchange, amide-alpha coupling constants, and nuclear Overhauser enhancements. Thermal and urea denaturation studies were conducted using the chemical shifts of the four aromatic side chains as local probes and the CD signal at 222 nm as a global probe. Plots of the fraction denatured versus denaturant concentration obtained from these studies are identical for all probes under all conditions studied. This observation provides strong evidence for two-state folding, indicating that there are no populated intermediates in the folding of lambda 6-85.     

Fluorescent probing of membrane potential in walled cells: diS-C3(3) assay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Membrane-potential-dependent accumulation of diS-C3(3) in intact yeast cells in suspension is accompanied by a red shift of the maximum of its fluorescence emission spectrum, lambda max, caused by a readily reversible probe binding to cell constituents. Membrane depolarization by external KCl (with or without valinomycin) or by ionophores causes a fast and reproducible blue shift. As the potential-reporting parameter, the lambda max shift is less affected by probe binding to cuvette walls and possible photobleaching than, for example, fluorescence intensity. The magnitude of the potential-dependent red lambda max shift depends on relative cell-to-probe concentration ratio, a maximum shift (572-->582 nm) being found in very thick suspensions and in cell lysates. The potential therefore has to be assessed at reasonably low cell (< or = 5 x 10(6) cells/ml) and probe (10(-7)M) concentrations at which a clearly defined relationship exists between the lambda max shift and the potential-dependent accumulation of the dye in the cells. The redistribution of the probe between the medium and yeast protoplasts takes about 5 min, but in intact cells it takes 10-30 min because the cell wall acts as a barrier, hampering probe penetration into the cells. The barrier properties of the cell wall correlate with its thickness: cells grown in 0.2% glucose (cell wall thickness 0.175 +/- 0.015 micron, n = 30) are stained much faster and the lambda max is more red-shifted than in cells grown in 2% glucose (cell wall thickness 0.260 +/- 0.043 micron, n = 44). At a suitable cell and probe concentration and under standard conditions, the lambda max shift of diS-C3(3) fluorescence provides reliable information on even fast changes in membrane potential in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Protective effect of melatonin in a non-septic shock model induced by zymosan in the rat

N-acetyl tyrosine (NAT) is hydroxylated by mushroom tyrosinase and the N-acetyl dopa formed is oxidized by the enzyme to N-acetyl dopaquinone (lambda max = 390 +/- 10 nm). H2O2 and NH2OH each shortened the lag period of NAT hydroxylation by the enzyme. H2O2 had an effect on the changes with time in the spectrum of product(s) formed and on the spectrum of the final product(s) obtained when NAT was hydroxylated by mushroom tyrosinase, in a manner suggesting that H2O2 converts N-acetyl dopaquinone to a pink-violet product(s) (lambda max = 490 nm), whereas such a product(s) was not formed in the absence of H2O2. A pink-violet product(s) (lambda max 490 +/- 20 nm) was also formed when NAT was hydroxylated by mushroom tyrosinase in the presence of NH2OH or para amino benzoic acid (PABA), probably as a result of an interaction between N-acetyl dopaquinone and NH2OH or PABA forming mono- or di-oximes. Kojic acid (5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl)-4H-pyran-4-one) inhibited effectively the rate of NAT hydroxylation by mushroom tyrosinase in the absence or presence of H2O2. When NAT was oxidized by the enzyme in the absence of kojic acid, N-acetyl dopaquinone was formed at once and a shoulder at 490-530 nm appeared later. Under identical conditions but in the presence of kojic acid, a yellow product(s), characterized by a peak at 320 +/- 10 nm, was detected, suggesting that N-acetyl dopaquinone oxidizes kojic acid to the yellow product(s). Maltol (3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one), a gamma-pyrone derivative structurally related to kojic acid, also inhibited the rate of NAT hydroxylation by mushroom tyrosinase. The addition of maltol at the plateau phase of the reaction resulted in an immediate decline in absorbance at 400 nm, suggesting that maltol conjugates with N-acetyl dopaquinone, yielding a product(s) characterized by a lower extinction coefficient at 400 nm than that of N-acetyl dopaquinone alone. The final brown-red product(s) formed when NAT was hydroxylated by mushroom tyrosinase was bleached in the presence of ascorbic acid or H2O2.     

Early photolysis intermediates of gecko and bovine artificial visual pigments

Nanosecond laser photolysis measurements were conducted on digitonin extracts of artificial pigments prepared from the cone-type visual pigment, P521, of the Tokay gecko (Gekko gekko) retina. Artificial pigments were prepared by regeneration of bleached gecko photoreceptor membranes with 9-cis-retinal, 9-cis-14-methylretinal, or 9-cis-alpha-retinal. Absorbance difference spectra were recorded at a sequence of time delays from 30 ns to 60 microseconds following excitation with a pulse of 477-nm actinic light. Global analysis showed the kinetic data for all three artificial gecko pigments to be best fit by two-exponential processes. These two-exponential decays correspond to similar decays observed after photolysis of P521 itself, with the first process being the decay of the equilibrated P521 Batho<-->P521 BSI mixture to P521 Lumi and the second process being the decay of P521 Lumi to P521 Meta I. In spite of its large blue shift relative to P521, iso-P521 displays a normal chloride depletion induced blue shift. Iso-P521's early intermediates up to Lumi were also blue-shifted, with the P521 Batho<-->P521 BSI equilibrated mixture being 15 nm blue-shifted and P521 Lumi being 8 nm blue-shifted relative to the intermediates formed after P521 photolysis. The blue shift associated with the iso-pigment is reduced or disappears entirely by P521 Meta I. Similar blue shifts were observed for the early intermediates observed after photolysis of bovine isorhodopsin, with the Lumi intermediate blue-shifted 5 nm compared to the Lumi intermediate formed after photolysis of bovine rhodopsin. These shifts indicate that a difference exists between the binding sites of 9- and 11-cis pigments which persists for microseconds at 20 degrees C.     

A thermal broadening study of the antenna chlorophylls in PSI-200, LHCI, and PSI core

The intact photosystem I of maize containing its full antenna complement (PSI-200) has been purified and fractionated into the core and outer antenna (LHCI) components. It is demonstrated by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy that at least 80% of the long wavelength absorbing antenna pigments (red forms) are located in LHCI. Absorption spectra in the Qy region of all three preparations were measured between 72 and 300 K and subjected to a thermal broadening analysis. Data are interpreted in the linear electron-phonon coupling assumption, and the average optical reorganization energy (Snum) for the bulk pigment band and the red absorption tail determined. A marked asymmetry in Snum values across the absorption band is demonstrated. The bulk pigments in all three preparations have rather low values, in the range of 15-25 cm-1, suggesting that Stokes shifts for the absorption forms are in the 1. 5-3 nm range. On the other hand the red forms have markedly greater reorganization energies. While a direct thermal analysis of the red tail indicates minimum Snum values of around 60 cm-1, when the contribution of the red tail of the bulk pigments is corrected for in LHCI, the more reliable value of 110 cm-1 is obtained. These high Snum values for the red pigment forms suggest that they have unusually wide homogeneously broadened absorption bands and large Stokes shifts (6-11 nm).     

Role of hydroxyl-bearing amino acids in differentially tuning the absorption spectra of the human red and green cone pigments

The human red and green cone pigments differ at either 15 or 16 amino acids, depending upon which polymorphic variants are compared. Seven of these amino acid differences involve the introduction or removal of a hydroxyl group. One of these differences, a substitution of alanine for serine at position 180, was found previously to produce a 5 nm blue shift. To determine the role of the remaining six hydroxyl group differences in tuning the absorption spectra of the human red and green pigments, we have studied six site-directed mutants in which single amino acids from the green pigment have been substituted for the corresponding residues in the red pigment. Blue shifts of 7 and 14 nm were observed upon substitution of phenylalanine for tyrosine at position 277 and alanine for threonine at position 285, respectively. Single substitutions at positions 65, 230, 233, and 309 produced spectral shifts of 1 nm or less. These data are in good agreement with a model based upon sequence comparisons among primate pigments and with the properties of site-directed mutants of bovine rhodopsin. Nonadditive effects observed in comparing the absorption spectra of red-green hybrid pigments remain to be explained.     

Role of visibility in nesting behavior of Larus gulls.

Four experiments studied 5 species of Larus gulls in England, Argentina, and the US to learn more about the relation between visibility, inter-nest distance, and aggression. Four of the species normally nest in marshes with vegetation that varies in density, structure, and placement, whereas the 5th species nests in a variety of habitats. Photographs taken with a fish-eye lens were used to measure visibility from gull nests. For all species the nearest neighbors nested in the direction of least visibility, and inter-nest distance directly related to visibility. The relation between the nearest neighbor and visibility varied for all species and related to the structure of the vegetation. Herring gulls nesting in habitats similar to those of the marsh-nesting species had equivalent relations between inter-nest distance and visibility. The amount of aggression increased when all vegetation was removed in experiments with 3 species. Given that visibility affects inter-nest distance and aggression levels, it indirectly affects the size and shape of gull territories. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Universality of energy and electron transfer processes in photosystem I

Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy has been used to investigate the photoinduced energy and electron transfer processes in photosystem I (PS I) particles from cyanobacteria, green algae, and higher plants. At room temperature, the kinetics observed in all three species are very similar: Following 590 nm excitation, an equilibration process(es) with a 3.7-7.5 ps lifetime was observed, followed by a 19-24 ps process that is associated with trapping. In all three species long-wavelength pigments (pigments that absorb at longer wavelengths than the primary electron donor) were observed. The difference spectrum associated with reduction of the primary electron acceptor [Ao(-)-Ao) difference spectrum] was obtained for all three species. The (Ao(-)-Ao) difference spectra obtained from measurements using detergent-isolated PS I particles from spinach and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are similar but clearly membrane fragments. In all three species the reduced primary electron acceptor (Ao(-)) is reoxidized extremely rapidly, in about 20 ps. The difference spectrum associated with Ao reduction appears to contain contributions from more than a single chlorophyll pigment.     

In vivo fluorescence kinetics of porphyrins following intravesical instillation of 5-aminolaevulinic acid in normal and tumour-bearing rat bladders

The fluorescence kinetics of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) following intravesical instillation of 5-aminolaevulinic acid (5-ALA) have been studied in vivo in a rat bladder tumour model. 5-ALA dissolved in NaHCO3 was intravesically instilled for 60 min in tumour-bearing and normal bladders of Wistar rats. The fluorescence was excited with the violet lines of a Kr(+)-laser and recorded in vivo by means of a fibre coupled optical multichannel analyser. The fluorescence emission bands of PPIX at lambda = 636 nm and lambda = 708 nm were detected in normal and tumorous urothelium after only 30 min. The maximum fluorescence intensity was obtained in tumorous and normal urothelium 3-4 h after instillation. The ratio of the fluorescence intensity in tumorous to normal urothelium decreased continuously from four to about two during the time range of 6 h. PPIX fluorescence following 5-ALA instillation could also be observed in kidney and liver. Fluorescence from further porphyrin species with emission bands at lambda = 617 nm and lambda = 682 nm was detected in the bladder, indicating an efflux of hydrophilic porphyrins from the hepatic pathway.     

Assembly and architecture of invertebrate cytoplasmic intermediate filaments reconcile features of vertebrate cytoplasmic and nuclear lamin-type intermediate filaments

The two major intermediate filament (IF) proteins from the esophagus epithelium of the snail Helix pomatia and the two major IF proteins from muscle tissue of the nematode Ascaris suum were investigated under a variety of assembly conditions. The lowest-order complexes from each of the four protostomic invertebrate (p-INV) IF proteins are parallel, unstaggered dimers involving two-stranded alpha-helical coiled coil formation of their approximately 350 amino acid residue central rod domain (i.e. long-rod). In the electron microscope these are readily recognized by their distinct approximately 56 nm long rod with two globular domains (i.e. representing the non-helical carboxy-terminal tail domain of the p-INV IF proteins) attached at one end, closely resembling vertebrate lamin dimers. The next-higher-order oligomers are tetramers, which are easily recognized by their two pairs of globular tail domains attached at either end of a approximately 72 nm long central rod portion. According to their size and shape, these tetramers are built from two dimers associated laterally in an antiparallel, approximately half-staggered fashion via the amino-terminal halves of their rod domains. This is similar to the NN-type tetramers found as the most abundant oligomer species in all types of vertebrate cytoplasmic IF proteins, which contain a approximately 310 amino acid residue central rod domain (i.e. short-rod). As a first step toward filament formation, the p-INV IF tetramers anneal longitudinally into protofilaments by antiparallel CC-type association of the carboxy-terminal halves of their dimer rods. The next step involves radial growth, occurring initially through lateral association of two four-chain protofilaments into octameric subfibrils, which then further associate into mature, full-width filaments. Head-to-tail polymers of dimers and paracrystalline fibers commonly observed with vertebrate lamins were only rarely seen with p-INV IF proteins. The globular domains residing at the carboxy-terminal end of p-INV IF dimers were studding the surface of the filaments at regular, approximately 24.5 nm intervals, thereby giving them a "beaded" appearance with an axial periodicity of about 24.5 nm, which is approximately 3 nm longer than the corresponding approximately 21.5 nm repeat pattern exhibited by short-rod vertebrate IFs.     

Absorbance changes of carotenoids in different solvents

Carotenoids are typically measured in tissues with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and quantitation is usually done by calibrating with stock solutions in solvents. Four carotenoids including lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene and beta-carotene were dissolved in hexane and methanol respectively, and their absorbance characteristics were compared. Lutein shows absorbance spectra that are almost independent of solvents at various concentrations. Spectra of zeaxanthin, lycopene and beta-carotene were found to be more solvent-dependent. The absorbance of zeaxanthin at lambda max is about approximately 2 times larger in methanol than in hexane at the higher concentrations, and increased non-linearly with increasing concentration in hexane. The absorbance of lycopene at lambda max in hexane is approximately 4 fold larger than in methanol, but the absorbance of the methanol sample can be recovered by re-extracting this sample in hexane. The absorbance of beta-carotene in hexane is larger than in methanol, and increased linearly with increasing concentration. But beta-carotene showed a non-linear concentration effect in methanol. There are very small variations in lambda max for all four carotenoids between hexane and methanol, due to differences in molar extinction coefficients. The non-linear concentration effects for these carotenoids are probably due to differences in solubility leading to the formation of microcrystals. Thus, care should be taken with quantitation of tissue carotenoid values, when they depend on measurement of concentrations in stock solutions.