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 Yucatán (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, A.C,

CICY). Her research line is metabolic engineering and plant genetics.

For the last two decades she has been working mainly with Bixa

orellana (achiote), a plant which produces bixin, a worldwide valued

natural pigment. Dr. Rivera's team is currently working on the regulatory

mechanisms that control carotenoid production in higher plants, as well as on genetic variability,

germplasm conservation, and genetic improvement using traditional methods and biotechnological

tools. Dr. Rivera's main contributions to the knowledge of the molecular genetics of Bixa orellana

and the molecular bases for its improvement are acknowledged at national and international level.

Her publications, and her studies on the expression and regulation of the genes involved in the

synthesis of carotenoids and bixin, are considered the basis for molecular genetic characterization.

She has been in charge of more than ten Bixa orellana projects funded by national and international

institutions and has authored more than 30 peer reviewed papers in specialized journals. As an

active professor at the centre's postgraduate division, she trains MD, PhD, and postgraduate students,

has directed 27 concluded pre-graduate theses, 17 master theses, four doctorate theses, and

three post-doctorates. She has evaluated projects summited to the National Council for Science and

Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT), as well as international projects.

Dr. Rivera is a member of the Mexican Science Academy and a level II member of the National

Researcher's System (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, SNI). She is currently Guest Editor in

Frontiers in Plant Science for the special issue on Interactions between Biochemical Pathways

Producing Plant Colors and Scents.

Dr. C. George Priya Doss earned his PhD from Vellore Institute of

Technology (VIT), India and presently positioned as HOD, Department

of Integrative Biology, School of Biosciences and Technology. His

research interest spans both computational biology and bioinformatics,

with prior in-depth knowledge and experience in molecular modelling,

molecular simulation analysis, drug discovery, nano-informatics and

development and construction of various biological databases. He has

authored and co-authored more than 170 scientifi c publications in international

peer reviewed journals and book chapters.