Disease relevance of Phytofluene

• The desaturation of phytoene into phytofluene is an early step in the biosynthetic pathway that in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus is mediated by the product of the crtI gene [1].
• Supplementation with tomato-based products increases lycopene, phytofluene, and phytoene levels in human serum and protects against UV-light-induced erythema [2].

High impact information on Phytofluene

• Serum testosterone is reduced following short-term phytofluene, lycopene, or tomato powder consumption in f344 rats [3].
• Additionally, we found a strong accumulation of zeta-carotene and, to a lesser extent, of phytofluene and cis-phytoene in nd-1 seedlings grown in very dim light (1 micro mol m(-2) s(-1)) [4].
• When HL-60 cells were grown in the carotenoid-supplemented medium for 120 hours, zeta-carotene and phytofluene at 10 microM inhibited cell growth to 3.7% and 22.6% of the growth in control culture, respectively, although they were extremely unstable in the culture medium [5].
• Characterization and molecular cloning of a flavoprotein catalyzing the synthesis of phytofluene and zeta-carotene in Capsicum chromoplasts [6].
• The roles of isomers of phytoene, phytofluene and zeta-carotene in carotenoid biosynthesis by a mutant strain of Scenedesmus obliquus [7].

Anatomical context of Phytofluene

• Lymphocyte carotenoid concentrations also increased significantly: that of lycopene doubled (P<0.001); that of phytofluene was 1.8-fold higher (P<0.005); that of phytoene was 2.6-fold higher (P<0.005); that of beta-carotene was 1.5-fold higher (P<0.01) [8].
• METHODS: Normal human dermal fibroblast cell cultures were exposed to either 50 mJ of UVR or to IL-1 and then incubated with various concentrations of either CoQ10, the colorless carotenoids, phytoene and phytofluene, or to combinations of these antioxidants [9].

Associations of Phytofluene with other chemical compounds

• By means of steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy we explore the photophysics of two lowest lying singlet excited states in two natural 15-cis-carotenoids, namely phytoene and phytofluene, possessing three and five conjugated double bonds (N), respectively [10].
• The herbicide norflurazon was added to established cell suspension cultures of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. VFNT cherry), to induce the biosynthesis and accumulation of the lycopene precursors, phytoene and phytofluene, in their natural isomeric forms (15-cis-phytoene and two cis-phytofluene isomers) [11].
• The results suggest that both torulin (C40) and neurosporaxanthin (C35) are formed from the precursors phytoene and phytofluene [12].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Phytofluene

• The ability to biosynthesize, radiolabel, and isolate these carotenoids from tomato cell cultures is a novel, valuable methodology for further in vitro and in vivo investigations into the roles of phytoene and phytofluene in cancer chemoprevention [11].

References