Carotene

The term carotene is used for several related substances having the formula C40Hx, which are synthesized by plants but cannot be made by animals. Carotene is an orange photosynthetic pigment important for photosynthesis. Carotenes are responsible for the orange colour of the carrot for which it is named, and many other fruits and vegetables (for example, sweet potatoes and orange cantaloupe melon). Carotenes are also responsible for the orange colours in dry foliage. They also (in lower concentrations) impart the yellow colouration to milk-fat and butter. Omnivorous animal species which are poor converters of coloured dietary carotenoids to colourless retinoids, have yellowed-coloured body fat as a result of the carotenoid retention. The typical yellow-coloured fat of humans is a result of fat storage of carotenes from their diets. Carotenes contribute to photosynthesis by transmitting the light energy they absorb from chlorophyll. They also protect plant tissues by helping to absorb the energy from singlet oxygen, an excited form of the oxygen molecule O2 which is formed during photosynthesis.