Carotenoids and Carotenoproteins in Asellus aquaticus L. (Crustacea: Isopoda)

Column (CC), thin-layer (TLC), high-performance liquid (HPLC) and ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), were used to investigate corotenoid and carotenoprotein complexes in Asellus aquaticus specimens from the Narew river. The following carotenoids were found: α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, diadinoxanthin, mutatoxanthin, crustaxanthin, echinenone, hydroxyechinenone, phoenicoxanthin, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. Astaxanthin (37.5%), canthaxanthin (21.4%) and phoenicoxanthin (12.3%) were found in the largest amounts. The total carotenoid content was 13.824 μg g⁻¹ of dry mass. Carotenoprotein complexes containing astaxanthin as the prosthetic group were purified from Asellus aquaticus. The carotenoprotein complexes belonged to the crustacyanins group as α- and γ-crustacyanin. The protein forming the α-crustacyanin contained large amounts of such amino-acids as asparic acid, glutamic acid and leucine, whereas the protein of the γ-crustacyanin contained primarily glutamic acid, glycine and lysine.