Zeaxanthin
From Palaeos.org
A carotene photosynthetic pigment found in glaucophytes and red algae. Zeaxanthin absorbs light in the blue region of the spectrum. Perhaps more importantly, it is active in controlling potential damage from high light intensities by scavenging free radicals (Baroli et al., 2003), and by dissipating excess energy through "short-circuiting" chlorophyll excited states (Aspinall-O'Dea et al., 2002).
[edit] References
Aspinall-O’Dea, M, M Wentworth, A Pascal, B Robert, A Ruban & P Horton (2002) In vitro reconstitution of the activated zeaxanthin state associated with energy dissipation in plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 99: 16331-16335.
Baroli, I, AD Do, T Yamane & KK Niyogi (2003), Absence of a functional xanthophyll cycle protects Chlamydomonas reinhardtii from photooxidative stress. Plant Cell 15: 992–1008.
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