Talk:CH391L/S12/Pigments: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:54, 26 March 2012

Jeffrey E. Barrick 13:09, 25 March 2012 (EDT):Please add references to your figure captions.
- Yi Kou 07:43, 26 March 2012 (EDT):Added.

Jeffrey E. Barrick 13:09, 25 March 2012 (EDT):For the chromobacteria section, many of these pigments seem to have evolved because they are antibacterial agents (like pyocyanin). It doesn't really matter if these are colored or not for their function. Aside from uv protection and harvesting light energy, I guess color is a random side-effect of the molecular structure in many cases. Is there also a connection that colored compounds (such as heme) are often redox-active?
- Yi Kou 07:43, 26 March 2012 (EDT): As far as I know, it is common for a pigment to be redox related if the pigment is generated as antibiotic for competing other organisms (and often these are related to either disturbing or maintaining the inside reducing power), famous example is pyocyanin from phenazines[1],other examples can be seen[2][3].

Jeffrey E. Barrick 13:09, 25 March 2012 (EDT):We've also talked about how sometimes symbiotic bacteria lend their properties to multicellular animals, like the example of luciferase and squid. I wonder if any colors in higher animals are derived from bacterial symbionts in specialized organelles or horizontal transfer of bacterial genes, rather than from eukaryotic .

Jeffrey E. Barrick 13:09, 25 March 2012 (EDT):Wow, those radiotrophic fungi are crazy.
- Yi Kou 07:54, 26 March 2012 (EDT):Yes, I think they are the "toughest" organisms. A link for this: Radiotrophic fungi.

Ben Slater 16:37, 25 March 2012 (EDT): You mentioned in your presentation that you weren't sure why β-carotene is missing the typical isoprenoid structure in the center. This occurs because the isoprenoid condensation joining the two 20-carbon precursors is a head-to-head condensation instead of head-to-tail as in the previous steps. A good way to spot this is the release of two pyrophosphates instead of one. Another good way indicator is the existence of the characteristic "forked tongues" on both ends instead of just one end.

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 *'''[[User:Jeffrey E. Barrick|Jeffrey E. Barrick]] 13:09, 25 March 2012 (EDT)''':Wow, those radiotrophic fungi are crazy.
-**'''[[User:Yi Kou|Yi Kou]] 07:54, 26 March 2012 (EDT)''':Yes, I think they are the "toughest" organisms. A link for this:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungi Radiotrophic fungi].
+**'''[[User:Yi Kou|Yi Kou]] 07:54, 26 March 2012 (EDT)''':Yes, I think they are the "toughest" organisms. A link for this:   [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungi Radiotrophic fungi].
 *'''[[User:Ben Slater|Ben Slater]] 16:37, 25 March 2012 (EDT)''': You mentioned in your presentation that you weren't sure why &beta;-carotene is missing the typical isoprenoid structure in the center. This occurs because the isoprenoid condensation joining the two 20-carbon precursors is a head-to-head condensation instead of head-to-tail as in the previous steps. A good way to spot this is the release of ''two'' pyrophosphates instead of one. Another good way indicator is the existence of the characteristic "forked tongues" on ''both'' ends instead of just one end.