Luyanda Nxumalo
The most common carotenoid found in nature and is involved in the xanthophyll cycle. It is the pigment that gives paprika, corn, saffron, and many other plants and microbes their distinctive color.
This potent antioxidant is linked to health benefits, such as a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts. It is found in human skin, where it provides UV protection and may help with skin aging symptoms such as dryness, wrinkles, discoloration, and loss of elasticity.
Zeaxanthin serves two functions:
1. It creates a yellow pigment shield to protect eye cells from the damaging effects of certain light sources, such as the sun.
2. It shields the eyes from harmful free radicals, which are unstable molecules that steal electrons from healthy cells and cause damage (a process known as oxidation).
Zeaxanthin contributes to plant heat tolerance in high-light environments. Arabidopsis thaliana lines engineered to overexpress -hydroxylase (the enzyme catalyzing the biosynthetic conversion of -carotene to zeaxanthin) showed improved heat tolerance. This engineered line had increased zeaxanthin levels but no increase in non-photochemical energy dissipation, which is consistent with the role of additional zeaxanthin in the photosynthetic membrane's phospholipid portion.
let's look at the colonies in the agar plate, they make a brown pigment, and that pigment is known as Zeaxanthin. This pigment is derived from a rod-shaped, gram-positive, and aerobic bacterium called Bacillus.
Zeaxanthin is related to vitamin A and, like lutein, is found in the human eye (macula and retina), it also acts as a light filter, protecting the eye tissues from damage caused by sunlight.
