No evidence that carotenoid pigments boost either immune or antioxidant defenses in a songbird
(2018) In Nature Communications 9(1).- Abstract
Dietary carotenoids have been proposed to boost immune system and antioxidant functions in vertebrate animals, but studies aimed at testing these physiological functions of carotenoids have often failed to find support. Here we subject yellow canaries (Serinus canaria), which possess high levels of carotenoids in their tissue, and white recessive canaries, which possess a knockdown mutation that results in very low levels of tissue carotenoids, to oxidative and pathogen challenges. Across diverse measures of physiological performance, we detect no differences between carotenoid-rich yellow and carotenoid-deficient white canaries. These results add further challenge to the assumption that carotenoids are directly involved in supporting... (More)
Dietary carotenoids have been proposed to boost immune system and antioxidant functions in vertebrate animals, but studies aimed at testing these physiological functions of carotenoids have often failed to find support. Here we subject yellow canaries (Serinus canaria), which possess high levels of carotenoids in their tissue, and white recessive canaries, which possess a knockdown mutation that results in very low levels of tissue carotenoids, to oxidative and pathogen challenges. Across diverse measures of physiological performance, we detect no differences between carotenoid-rich yellow and carotenoid-deficient white canaries. These results add further challenge to the assumption that carotenoids are directly involved in supporting physiological function in vertebrate animals. While some dietary carotenoids provide indirect benefits as retinoid precursors, our observations suggest that carotenoids themselves may play little to no direct role in key physiological processes in birds.
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- author
- Koch, Rebecca E. ; Kavazis, Andreas N. ; Hasselquist, Dennis LU ; Hood, Wendy R. ; Zhang, Yufeng ; Toomey, Matthew B. and Hill, Geoffrey E.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-12-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Communications
- volume
- 9
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 491
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:29403051
- scopus:85041665228
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-018-02974-x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- bd4ac3fd-e844-4182-90cb-6f74c3c51407
- date added to LUP
- 2018-02-20 07:48:59
- date last changed
- 2024-08-05 13:02:37
@article{bd4ac3fd-e844-4182-90cb-6f74c3c51407,
abstract = {{<p>Dietary carotenoids have been proposed to boost immune system and antioxidant functions in vertebrate animals, but studies aimed at testing these physiological functions of carotenoids have often failed to find support. Here we subject yellow canaries (Serinus canaria), which possess high levels of carotenoids in their tissue, and white recessive canaries, which possess a knockdown mutation that results in very low levels of tissue carotenoids, to oxidative and pathogen challenges. Across diverse measures of physiological performance, we detect no differences between carotenoid-rich yellow and carotenoid-deficient white canaries. These results add further challenge to the assumption that carotenoids are directly involved in supporting physiological function in vertebrate animals. While some dietary carotenoids provide indirect benefits as retinoid precursors, our observations suggest that carotenoids themselves may play little to no direct role in key physiological processes in birds.</p>}},
author = {{Koch, Rebecca E. and Kavazis, Andreas N. and Hasselquist, Dennis and Hood, Wendy R. and Zhang, Yufeng and Toomey, Matthew B. and Hill, Geoffrey E.}},
issn = {{2041-1723}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{12}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Nature Communications}},
title = {{No evidence that carotenoid pigments boost either immune or antioxidant defenses in a songbird}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02974-x}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41467-018-02974-x}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2018}},
}