Spatial and Temporal Variation of Carotenoids in Four Species ofTrentepohlia(Trentepohliales, Chlorophyta)

Abstract

Trentepohlia Martius, a dominant green subaerial alga, grows abundantly in Shillong and imparts the yellow, red, and orange colours to most of the tree barks, walls, rocks, and electric poles because of high accumulation of carotenoids in their filaments. This study emphasised the seasonal changes in carotenoid content amongst four different species of Trentepohlia, that is, T. diffracta, T. arborum, T. umbrina, and T. abietina, collected from four different substrata, that is, wall, rock, electric pole, and three types of tree bark (smooth, fissured, and rough). Quantitative estimation of different carotenoids, namely, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein, and β-carotene, from HPLC chromatogram peak showed a significant seasonal variation in all of the four species and β-carotene was threefold more in winter compared to summer. Amongst the selected species, T. diffracta collected from wall contained the highest amount of β-carotene both in summer and in winter, followed by T. arborum from rock and T. abietina from bark, and least amount was in T. umbrina collected from electric pole. Comparing the carotenoid content in Trentepohlia abietina growing in different types of barks, sample from smooth bark had the highest amount of carotenoids both in summer and in winter, followed by the sample from rough bark, and lowest amount was noted in fissured bark.

Environmental Factors Affecting the Diversity and Photosynthetic Pigments of Trentepohlia Species in Northern Thailand’s Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary

“…Mukherjee et al (2010) studied two species of Trentepohlia from natural habitats in Assam State, India, and found that the total carotenoid content in both species was very high, with a small amount of chlorophyll. Kharkongor and Ramanujam (2015) studied the accumulation of total carotenoids in four Trentepohlia species in Shillong, India, and found a high accumulation of carotenoids (especially β-carotene) in their filaments.…”

“…Scientists around the world have been trying to collect, extract, and isolate β-carotene from Trentepohlia (Aburai et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2015), but no one has done it yet in Thailand. Kharkongor and Ramanujam (2015) and Mukherjee et al (2010) reported that β-carotene content could vary in species across different seasons because of the different environmental factors.…”

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“…Since presence of high quantity of carotenoids in these four species of Trentepohlia had also been reported [33], the antioxidant activities contributed by carotenoids besides flavonoids must not be ruled out in this case. Martinez & Barbosa [50] reported the ability of carotenoids to deactivate singlet oxygen by physical quenching.…”

“…A total number of 10 species had been reported [32], of which four species were dominant. Presence of high quantity of carotenoids was also documented from these four species of Trentepohlia [33]. Hence, this present work was carried out to examine specifically the antioxidant activity of the four dominant species and to throw to light the participation of other antioxidant compounds such as phenolics besides the well known carotenoids.…”

“…Rice-Evans et al [49] explained that the antioxidant properties of flavonoids and other phenolics are mainly due to their redox properties, which allow them to act as reducing agents, hydrogen donators and singlet oxygen quenchers. Simic et al [31] reported superoxide radical scavenging activity of methanol extract in T. umbrina based on its ability to destroy the Superoxide radical generated from the PMS-NADH reaction.Since presence of high quantity of carotenoids in these four species of Trentepohlia had also been reported [33], the antioxidant activities contributed by carotenoids besides flavonoids must not be ruled out in this case. Martinez & Barbosa [50] reported the ability of carotenoids to deactivate singlet oxygen by physical quenching.…”