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Articles

The Carotenoid Hydrocarbons of Euglena gracilis and Derived Mutants ¹

G. Britton^b

^a Department of Life Sciences, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana 47809, Department of Biochemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, England

An examination of the carotene fractions extracted from Euglena gracilis Z and pressure-bleached Euglena mutants PR-1, PR-2, PR-3, and PR-4 revealed phytoene in mutants PR-1, PR-2, and PR-3. Photosynthetic E. gracilis Z cultured at different light intensities showed no detectable phytoene, nor was phytoene found in mutant PR-4. However, dark-cultured E. gracilis Z yielded readily assayable amounts of phytoene. With the exception of PR-4, in which no C₄₀ carotenoids were detected, the following carotenes were identified in all from their mass spectra: phytoene, phytofluene, -carotene, -zeacarotene, and -carotene. Of these, phytoene and -zeacarotene had not previously been unequivocally identified in Euglena.

¹ These studies were supported by a NATO-NSF Senior Post-doctoral Fellowship to J.A.G., summer 1971; Research Agreement Fund No. 2110 from Indiana State University; and a grant from the Science Research Council of Great Britain to Prof. T. W. Goodwin.