Transformations of carotenoids in the oceanic water column

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Date
1982-08
Authors
Repeta, Daniel J.
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Location
Buzzards Bay, MA
Peru
DOI
10.1575/1912/2073
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Keywords
Carotenoids
Phytoplankton
Marine sediments
Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII108-3
Abstract
In an effort to understand the more general mechanisms and rates of pre-depositional reactions that transform organic matter, the types and relevant time scales of reactions that transform carotenoid pigments in the oceanic water column were studied. Suspended particulate matter collected from surface waters of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts and the Peru upwelling system has a carotenoid distribution reflecting the phytoplanktonic source of the material. The carotenoid distribution of sediment trap samples collected in these same areas was dominated by transformation products. Fucoxanthin, the primary carotenoid of marine diatoms, typically constituted 77-100% of the total fucopigments in suspended particulate material. In sediment trap samples this pigment constituted only 4-85% of the total. The remaining 15-96% of the pigments consisted of the fucoxanthin transformations products: free alcohols (2-94%), dehydrates (0-6%), and opened epoxides (0-19%). Preliminary results suggest that carotenoid esters are hydrolyzed to free alcohols at a rate determined by the turnover of primary productivity. The dehydrated and epoxide opened intermediates of fucoxanthin represent products of transformation reactions that operate over much longer time scales (0.1-10 yrs). Dehydration and epoxide opening are not significant water column transformations, but are important in surface sediments.
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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1982
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Citation
Repeta, D. J. (1982). Transformations of carotenoids in the oceanic water column [Doctoral thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]. Woods Hole Open Access Server. https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/2073
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