| Abstract: | Protomyces pachydermus and P. inouyei contains ß-, -carotene and lycopene, with ß-carotene predominating.Taphrina deformans and T. communis contains no carotenoid pigmentsalthough the colour of methanol extracts of all four speciesis yellow. A quick way of differentiating between these twogenera is by showing the presence of carotenoid pigments inProtomyces and absence of these in Taphrina. It is suggestedthat a knowledge of individual carotenoid pigments in fungimight be useful as a taxonomic tool among fairly closely relatedspecies. |
