| Description | Phytoene is converted to lycopene by desaturation at four (two symmetrical pairs of) sites. This is achieved by two enzymes (4,4'-diaponeurosporene oxygenase or CrtP, and 4,4'-diaponeurosporenoate glycosyltransferase or CrtQ) in cyanobacteria (Gloeobacter being an exception) and plants, but by a single enzyme in most other bacteria and in fungi [ ]. This single enzyme is called the bacterial-type phytoene desaturase, or CrtI. Most members of this family are part of flavin containing amine oxidoreductase family. It is likely that all members act on either phytoene or on related compounds such as dehydrosqualene, for carotenoid biosynthesis.This family also includes 4,4'-diapophytoene desaturase or CrtN which is required for the biosynthesis of the yellow-orange carotenoid staphyloxanthin in Staphylococcus aureus[ ]; 4,4'-diapolycopene oxygenase or CrtNb fromMethylomonaswhich although involved in carotenoid biosynthesis is not a desaturase [ ]; and 4,4'-diapolycopen-4-al dehydrogenase or CrtNc fromBacillus indicus[ ].Carotenoids are coloured compounds produced by plants, fungi, and microorganisms. Most animals lack the genes encoding carotenoid biosynthetic machinery and thus must obtain carotenoids from food. The pea aphid is an exception; its genome has been found to harbour genes for carotenoid biosynthesis, reflecting an ancestral transfer from a fungus [ , ]. | Name | Carotenoid/retinoid oxidoreductase |
| Short Name | Carotenoid/retinoid_OxRdtase | Type | Family |
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