myxoxanthophyll, n. Biochem.
Brit. /ˌmɪksəʊˈzanθə(ʊ)fɪl/, U.S. /ˌmɪksoʊˈzænθəˌfɪl/
[‹ myxo- (in scientific Latin Myxophyceae: see myxophycean adj.) + xanthophyll n., after myxoxanthin n.]
Any of a group of related carotenoid pigments present (usually as rhamnosides) in the photosynthetic apparatus of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae); a mixture of such pigments.
| 1936 I. M. Heilbron & B. Lythgoe in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 1377 Chromatographic analysis..gave two crystalline carotenoids, one of which has been identified as lutein. The other is a new pigment myxoxanthophyll, C40H56O7 ({pm} 2H). 1967 Q. Rev. Biol. 42 219/1 It [sc. the alga Cyanidium] lacks the characteristic myxoxanthophyll of the blue-green algae. 1986 M. Kogut tr. H. G. Schlegel Gen. Microbiol. iii. 126 The thylakoid membrane contains chlorophyll a, β-carotene, and oxo-carotenoids like myxoxanthophyll. 2001 Plant & Cell Physiol. 42 756 The name myxoxanthophyll can not specify the sugar moiety and the identification of the sugar moiety is unfeasible in many cyanobacteria. |