Compendium of the most significant studies with reference to properties, intake, effects.

Takemura M, Sahara T, Misawa N. Violaxanthin: natural function and occurrence, biosynthesis, and heterologous production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Aug;105(16-17):6133-6142. doi: 10.1007/s00253-021-11452-2.

Abstract

Violaxanthin is biosynthesized from zeaxanthin with zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) by way of antheraxanthin only in photosynthetic eukaryotes including higher plants and involved in the xanthophyll cycle to eliminate excessive light energy. Violaxanthin and antheraxanthin have commercially been unavailable, in contrast to commercial production of other carotenoids contained in higher plants, e.g., lycopene, β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, and capsanthin. One of the reasons is considered that resource plants or other resource organisms do not exist for enabling efficient supply of the epoxy-carotenoids, which are expected to be produced through (metabolic) pathway engineering with heterologous microbial hosts such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this Mini-Review, we show heterologous production of violaxanthin with the two microorganisms that have exhibited significant advances these days. We further describe natural function and occurrence, and biosynthesis involving violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and their derivatives that include auroxanthin and mutatoxanthin.

Goss R, Schwarz C, Matzner M, Wilhelm C. Influence of the compatible solute sucrose on thylakoid membrane organization and violaxanthin de-epoxidation. Planta. 2021 Aug 15;254(3):52. doi: 10.1007/s00425-021-03699-w.

Kim HM, Jung JH, Kim JY, Heo J, Cho DH, Kim HS, An S, An IS, Bae S. The Protective Effect of Violaxanthin from Nannochloropsis oceanica against Ultraviolet B-Induced Damage in Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts. Photochem Photobiol. 2019 Mar;95(2):595-604. doi: 10.1111/php.13030.

Chen L, Yan Z, Xia Z, Cheng Y, Jiao Z, Sun B, Zhou T, Fan Z. A Violaxanthin Deepoxidase Interacts with a Viral Suppressor of RNA Silencing to Inhibit Virus Amplification. Plant Physiol. 2017 Dec;175(4):1774-1794. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.00638.

Araki M, Kaku N, Harada M, Ando Y, Yamaguchi R, Shindo K. Production of Auroxanthins from Violaxanthin and 9-cis-Violaxanthin by Acidic Treatment and the Antioxidant Activities of Violaxanthin, 9-cis-Violaxanthin, and Auroxanthins. J Agric Food Chem. 2016 Dec 14;64(49):9352-9355. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04506.

Dlouhý O, Kurasová I, Karlický V, Javornik U, Šket P, Petrova NZ, Krumova SB, Plavec J, Ughy B, Špunda V, Garab G. Modulation of non-bilayer lipid phases and the structure and functions of thylakoid membranes: effects on the water-soluble enzyme violaxanthin de-epoxidase. Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 20;10(1):11959. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68854-x.

Soontornchaiboon W, Joo SS, Kim SM. Anti-inflammatory effects of violaxanthin isolated from microalga Chlorella ellipsoidea in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Biol Pharm Bull. 2012;35(7):1137-44. doi: 10.1248/bpb.b12-00187.

Schaller S, Wilhelm C, Strzałka K, Goss R. Investigating the interaction between the violaxanthin cycle enzyme zeaxanthin epoxidase and the thylakoid membrane. J Photochem Photobiol B. 2012 Sep 3;114:119-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2012.05.019.

Jahns P, Latowski D, Strzalka K. Mechanism and regulation of the violaxanthin cycle: the role of antenna proteins and membrane lipids. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Jan;1787(1):3-14. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2008.09.013.

Esteban R, Jiménez ET, Jiménez MS, Morales D, Hormaetxe K, Becerril JM, García-Plazaola JI. Dynamics of violaxanthin and lutein epoxide xanthophyll cycles in Lauraceae tree species under field conditions. Tree Physiol. 2007 Oct;27(10):1407-14. doi: 10.1093/treephys/27.10.1407.