Further Proof of Direct Oxygen Transfer by Carotenoids in Respiration and Photosynthesis


Further Proof of Direct Oxygen Transfer by Carotenoids in Respiration and Photosynthesis

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THE hypothesis that carotenoids participate in oxygen transfer in photosynthesis was first put forward by Warburg and Krippahl1, then by Cholnoky et al.2. Sapožnikov3 observed increased


production of violaxanthin (a diepoxide of lutein) in darkness with a corresponding decrease in lutein production. In illuminated medium the opposite reaction occurred. Hydroxylamine, a


wellknown inhibitor of photosynthesis, has been shown4 to retard this light–darkness reaction. Blass, Anderson and Calvin5 confirmed the work of Sapožnikov, but, although they observed the


decrease of violaxanthin in light, they found no corresponding rise in the concentration of lutein. In these experiments, however, nearly equal specific radioactivity of lutein and


violaxanthin was noted. This fact suggests an interrelationship between these two carotenoids in photosynthesis and respiration respectively. Recently, Saakov6 gave a complete scheme of the


biosynthesis of carotenoids and of their oxido-reduction reactions in photosynthesis.


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