Mesoproterozoic surface oxygenation accompanied major sedimentary manganese deposition at 1.4 and 1.1 Ga

This research was funded by the Australian Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) as part of The Distal Footprints of Giant Ore Systems: UNCOVER Australia Project (RP04-063)—Capricorn Distal Footprints. EAS also thanks the donors of The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for partial support of this research (61017-ND2).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Carotenoid composition and conformation in retinal oil droplets of the domestic chicken

International audienceCarotenoid-containing oil droplets in the avian retina act as cut-off filters to enhance colour discrimination. We report a confocal resonance Raman investigation of the oil droplets of the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus. We show that all carotenoids present are in a constrained conformation, implying a locus in specific lipid binding sites. In addition, we provide proof of a recent conclusion that all carotenoid-containing droplets contain a mixture of all carotenoids present, rather than only a subset of them-a conclusion that diverges from the previously-held view. Our results have implications for the mechanism(s) giving rise to these carotenoid mixtures in the differently-coloured droplets