Table of Contents

Recent Progress in Carotenoid Structures.- Carotenoid Structures and Lower Plant Phylogeny.- Plant Carotenoids.- Animal Carotenoids.- Carotenoproteins.- Advances in HPLC and HPLC-MS of Carotenoids and Retinoids.- Advances in the Synthesis of Optically Active Carotenoids.- Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Retinoids and Visual Pigment Analogs Studies.- Artifacts of Natural Carotenoids - Unintended Carotenoid Synthesis.- Carotenoid Biosynthesis - An Overview.- The Use of Cell-Free Systems in Studies of Carotenoid Biosynthesis.- On the Desaturation and Cyclization of Carotenes in Chromoplast Membranes.- Natural Selection of Carotenoid Configurations by the Reaction Center and the Light-Harvesting Complex of Photosynthetic Bacteria.- The Function of Carotenoid Pigments in Photosynthesis and Their Possible Involvement in the Evolution of Higher Plants.- Photoprotective Functions of Carotenoids.- Bacterial Carotenoids as Membrane Reinforcers. A General Role for Polyterpenoids: Membrane Stabilization.- New Aspects of Carotenoid Metabolism in Animals.- Bioavailability of Carotenoids.- Carotenoids in Medicine.- ß-Carotene Prevention of 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthraceneinduced Transformation of Mouse Mammary Cells in vitro.- ß-Carotene Protection Against Phototoxicity in vivo.- Pilot Intervention Studies with Carotenoids.- Carotenoids and the Immune System.- Synthetic Astaxanthin. The Route of a Carotenoid from Research to Commercialization.- Industrial Biosynthesis of Carotenoids.