The carotenoids of the eggs and embryos of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus☆

[摘要] ThecarotenoidsofeggsandpluteioftheseaurchinS.purpuratushavebeeninvestigated.Theeggscontainfivepigments.Echinenoneandβ-carotenetogethermakeupmorethan90%ofthetotal,buttheproportionsvarywidely:inseveninvestigationstheratiosofechinenonetoβ-carotenerangedfrom1.6to10.9.Nocorrelationwasfoundwiththetimeofspawning.Zeaxanthinconstitutes2–3%ofthetotal;andapigmenttentativelyidentifiedasisocryptoxanthin,3.5–5.5%.Asmallamountoftheβ-carotene,usually1–2%,isisolatedasanisomer,probablyneo-β-caroteneB.Tracesoftwootherpigmentsareseenonthethinlayerchromatogram,buthavenotbeenisolatedoridentified.Thetotalcarotenoidcontentoftheeggsvariesconsiderably.Tenfemales,whichspawnedonthesamedate,hadeggcarotenoidcontentsrangingfrom0.19to0.38mg(echinenoneequivalents)pergramofprotein,withanaverageof0.27mg.ThepluteiofS.purpuratuscontainthesamefivepigments,andtracesofthesametwopigments,thatoccurintheeggs.Thepigmentshavebeeninvestigatedquantitativelyasafunctionoftime,andithasbeenshownthatnoreductionoccursduringearlydevelopmentinthetotalamountofcarotenoidpresent,andnosignificantchangeoccursfromeggtopluteusinthepercentagesofthedifferentcarotenoids.Thesignificanceofthedatawithrespecttothefunctionofcarotenoidsinmarineeggsandembryosisdiscussed.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）