Light Emission in Betalains: From Fluorescent Flowers to Biotechnological Applications.
Trends Plant Sci
; 25(2): 159-175, 2020 02.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31843371
ABSTRACT
The discovery of visible fluorescence in the plant pigments betalains revealed the existence of fluorescent patterns in flowers of plants of the order Caryophyllales, where betalains substitute anthocyanins. The serendipitous initial discovery led to a systemized characterization of the role of different substructures on the photophysical phenomenon. Strong fluorescence is general to all members of the family of betaxanthins linked to the structural property that the betalamic acid moiety is connected to an amine group. This property has led to bioinspired tailor-made probes and to the development of novel biotechnological applications in screening techniques or microscopy labeling. Here, we comprehensively review the photophysics, photochemistry, and photobiology of betalain fluorescence and describe all current applications.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Flowers
/
Betalains
Language:
En
Journal:
Trends Plant Sci
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article