CRC Press Biology, Chemistry and Applications of Apocarotenoids

Carotenoids are a large class of isoprenoid pigments produced by plants and certain microbes. More than 700 naturally occurring carotenoids have been identified. Apocarotenoids are tailored from carotenoids by oxidative enzymes. Apocarotenoids act as visual or volatile signals to attract pollinating and seed dispersal agents. They are also the key players in allelopathic interactions and plant defense. Biology, Chemistry and Applications of Apocarotenoids provides detailed account of the fundamental chemistry of apocarotenoids and the basic methods used in carotenoid research, and critical discussions of the biochemistry, functions, and applications of these important compounds. Topics covered in the proposed book include various aspects of the roles of apocarotenoids in colour and colouration, photosynthesis and other photofunctions and protection. The formation and roles of carotenoid metabolites and breakdown products as perfume/aroma compounds are also be outlined. Features: Provides an organized overview of apocarotenoids and their chemistry and biological functions Focuses on recent discoveries on apocarotenoids, their nature and functions. Details potential uses of apocarotenoids in agriculture, pharmacy, food industry, and apocarotenoid production at industrial level This book has been written by leading experts in apocarotenoid research and gives a comprehensive overview on the diversity of apocarotenoid compounds and would serve as a reference book for researches in Plant Physiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Medicine. About the Author Dr. Ramamoorthy Siva is a professor and head of the Department of Biotechnology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), India. He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in plant science from Madurai Kamaraj University, India. He carried out his PhD in Plant Genetic Diversity at Bharathidasan University, India. He did his postdoctoral research at Ben Gurion University (Israel) and Gyeongsang National University (South Korea). His research interests are plant biotechnology and pigments biology. For more than 15 years he has carried out extensive research on plant dyes and pigments. He is the recipient of prestigious MASHAV fellowship from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel at the Institute of Applied Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel (2004). Dr. Siva has been recognised for his contributions at the international level in the field of Biotechnology and has been honoured by University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (2011) and recipient of "Young Scientist" project supported by DST, India. He is involved in popularizing science in India by organising conferences and conducting lecture workshops on various biological aspects with the support of Science Academies, India since, 2009. Dr. Siva has been successful to obtain various national and international research grants and several funded research projects. Dr. Siva is an IUCN species commission member for medicinal plants. He was nominated as Fellow of Linnean Society (FLS), London in 2013; Elected as a Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (UK) in 2015, and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in 2020. He was selected as the "Young Scientist of the Year"(2017) by Tamil Nadu Academy of Sciences, Chennai and was awarded the International Visiting Fellow, University of Essex, UK (2017). He has published more than 100 manuscripts in reputed peer reviewed journals with high impact factor. Currently, he is the Associate Editor of BMC Plant Biology, BMC Biotechnology and Journal of Natural Products and Bioprospecting (Springer) and the Academic Editor of PLoS One and Peer J.   Dr. Renata Rivera-Madrid earned her PhD in plant physiology and molecular biology from the Université de Perpignan, France. Dr. Rivera is senior researcher in molecular biology of plant carotenoids at the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Unit of the Scientific Research Centre of Y