Abstract
Marine organisms contain carotenoids with unique structure, and highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) with health beneficial effects. Fucoxanthin, from the edible seaweed Undaria pinnatifida, induced apoptosis in human leukemia and colon cancer cells. Furthermore, the activities of apoptosis induction by halocynthiaxanthin and fucoxanthinol isolated from the sea squirt Halocynthia roretzi as metabolites of fucoxanthin were higher than that of fucoxanthin. In addition, dietary fucoxanthin attenuated the weight gain of white adipose tissue and decreased blood glucose in obese/diabetic mice. These results show multi-functional properties of fucoxanthin and its metabolites. On the other hand, to extend the application of HUFAs, enzymatic preparation of phospholipid (PL) binding HUFA and bioconversion of HUFA to hydroxyl cyclic fatty acid have been attempted. Phospholipase A2 and Lipozyme IM show specificities on sn-2 and sn-1 position of PL, respectively, in esterification and acidolysis. Utilization of water mimics was effective in increasing the reaction yield of HUFA-PL. Further, tetrahydrofuranyl hydroxyl and diepoxy bicyclic fatty acids were converted from HUFA by Bacillus megateriurn ALA2.
