The key difference between xanthophyll and carotene is that xanthophyll is a class of carotenoid pigments that contains oxygen atoms in the form of a hydroxyl or epoxide, while carotene is a class of carotenoid pigments that is a hydrocarbon and lacks oxygen atoms.
Carotenoids are plant pigments that give bright red, yellow, and orange colors to many fruits and vegetables. These pigments play an important function in plant health. People who consume food containing carotenoids get protective health benefits as well. There are more than 600 types of carotenoids. The carotenoids are broadly classified into two classes: xanthophyll and carotene.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Xanthophyll
3. What is Carotene
4. Similarities – Xanthophyll and Carotene
5. Xanthophyll vs Carotene in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Xanthophyll vs Carotene
What is Xanthophyll?
Xanthophyll is one of the two major classes of carotenoid pigments. Unlike carotene, xanthophyll contains an oxygen atom in the form of a hydroxyl or epoxide. Xanthophylls are yellow pigments widely occurring in nature. This group of pigments gained this name due to their formation of the yellow band in the chromatography of leaf pigments. The presence of oxygen atoms in xanthophylls makes them more polar than carotenes. This polarity causes their separation from carotenes in many types of chromatography.
Figure 01: Xanthophyll
Xanthophylls are found in higher quantities in the leaves of most green plants. In these green plants, they help to modulate light energy and serve as a non-photochemical quenching agent to deal with triplet chlorophyll. They are also found in animal bodies. The pigments in this class include lutein, zeaxanthin, neoxanthin, violaxanthin, flavoxanthhin, and α- and β- cryptoxanthin. Furthermore, the food sources that contain xanthophylls include papaya, peaches, prunes, squash, kale, spinach, parsley, and pistachios.
What is Carotene?
Carotene is a class of carotenoid pigments that are hydrocarbons. Unlike xanthophyll, carotene lacks oxygen atoms. Structurally, carotenes are unsaturated hydrocarbon substances with the molecular formula of C40Hx. Carotenes are plant pigments. Generally, they cannot be made by animals. However, the exception is some aphids and spider mites acquiring the carotenes synthesizing genes from fungi.
Figure 02: Carotene
Carotenes help plants in photosynthesis by transmitting the light energy they absorb to chlorophyll molecules. Moreover, carotenes absorb ultraviolet, violet, and blue light. They also can scatter orange or red light and yellow light. Furthermore, they also protect plant tissues. The β-carotene is broken down to retinol, which is a form of vitamin A in the mucosa of the human small intestine. β-carotene is stored in the human liver and body fats. In addition, carotenes are also used as food additives to color products such as juice, cakes, desserts, butter, and margarine. The sources of carotenes include carrots, wolfberries, cantaloupe, mangoes, red bell paper, papaya, spinach, kale, sweet potato, tomato, dandelion green, broccoli, collard green, winter squash, pumpkin, and cassava.
What are the Similarities Between Xanthophyll and Carotene?
- Xanthophyll and carotene are the two major classes of carotenoids.
- Both are color pigments.
- Both are widely found plants.
- They play important roles in both plants as well as in animals.
- They have industrial uses as well.
What is the Difference Between Xanthophyll and Carotene?
Xanthophyll is a class of carotenoid pigments that contains a hydroxyl or epoxide group, while carotene is a class of carotenoid pigments that is a hydrocarbon without an oxygen atom. Thus, this is the key difference between xanthophyll and carotene. Furthermore, xanthophyll mainly gives yellow color, while carotene mainly gives orange color.
The below infographic presents the differences between xanthophyll and carotene in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Xanthophyll vs Carotene
Xanthophyll and carotene are the two major classes of carotenoid pigments. Both are plant pigments. Xanthophylls have an oxygen atom in the form of a hydroxyl or epoxide, while carotenes lack an oxygen atom. Carotenes are hydrocarbons. Xanthophylls are yellow color pigments, whereas carotenes are orange color pigments. So, this summarizes the difference between xanthophyll and carotene.
Reference:
1. “Xanthophyll.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. Anthony, Kiara. “Carotenoids: Everything You Need to Know.” Healthline, Healthline Media.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Image from page 61 of “Carotenoids, their comparative biochemistry” (1954)” By Internet Archive Book Imags (Public Domain) via Flickr
2. “Alpha-carotene” (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia