Medically important carotenoids from and their gene expressions in different organs.

Carotenoids, found in the fruit and different organs of bitter melon (), have attracted great attention for their potential health benefits in treating several major chronic diseases. Therefore, study related to the identification and quantification of the medically important carotenoid metabolites is highly important for the treatment of various disorderes. The present study involved in the identification and quantification of the various carotenoids present in the different organs of and the identification of the genes responsible for the accumulation of the carotenoids with respect to the transcriptome levels were investigated. In this study, using the transcriptome database of bitter melon, a partial-length cDNA clone encoding geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (), and several full-length cDNA clones encoding geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (), zeta-carotene desaturase (), lycopene beta-cyclase (), lycopene epsilon cyclases ( and ), beta-carotene hydroxylase (), and zeaxanthin epoxidase () were identified in bitter melon The expression levels of the mRNAs encoding these eight putative biosynthetic enzymes, as well as the accumulation of lycopene, α-carotene, lutein, 13Z-β-carotene, E-β-carotene, 9Z-β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and violaxanthin were investigated in different organs from as well as in the four different stages of its fruit maturation. Transcripts were found to be constitutively expressed at high levels in the leaves where carotenoids were also found at the highest levels Collectively, these results indicate that the putative and enzymes might be key factors in controlling carotenoid content in bitter melon In conclusion, the over expression of the carotenoid biosynthetic genes from crops to increase the yield of these medically important carotenoids.