Component
Alpha-carotene
Provitamin A carotenoid with one unsubstituted beta-ionone ring.
1 recorded relationships. Experimental role, claim status and evidence remain attached to each record.
How nutrients influence it
Every nutrient with a recorded effect on this component, credited to the nutrient that acted rather than the chapter that recorded it. Open a nutrient to see the findings and the conditions they were measured under.
Other things that act on it
Enzymes, hormones, genes, and other components with a recorded effect. These are not nutrients, so they do not count toward the arrows above. Each finding names the chapter that recorded it.
How nutrients reach it in more than one step
Chains of two or more recorded steps that end here, grouped by the nutrient they start from. Each step is a separate finding, so a chain is a route a mechanism could take, not proof that it does.
Tracing routes…
What it does
Every recorded relationship this component is part of, grouped by its role. Plain wording comes first; the technical statement follows.
Where it participates (unsigned role)
Human BCO1 generated retinal from alpha-carotene in substrate assays.
Experimental context and source evidence
- evidence_location
- Abstract
- experimental_model
- Purified human BCO1 expressed in E. coli; substrate incubations and HPLC.
- exposure
- Purified BCO1 and alpha-carotene concentration series.
- limitations
- Lower catalytic efficiency than beta-carotene under these assay conditions.
- nutrient_topic
- Vitamin A research collection; topical membership is not evidence of a direct dietary effect. · Vitamin A
- organism
- Homo sapiens protein expressed in Escherichia coli
- outcome
- Human BCO1 generated retinal from alpha-carotene in substrate assays.
- plain_language
- Alpha-carotene can feed retinal production.
- primary_references
- [va-delasena-2013] Substrate specificity of purified recombinant human beta-carotene 15,15'-oxygenase (BCO1) (2013). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24187135/ DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.507160
- tissue_or_cell_type
- Cell-free enzyme
Vitamin A: forms, mechanisms, deficiency and excess (2026-09-17) · lines 145–157
AI-assisted literature curation; primary study URLs and scope retained in the document and extraction. Not publisher full text. · supports · Purified human BCO1 expressed in E. coli; substrate incubations and HPLC. · source_derived_draft · unverified_draft
### va-bco1-alpha-carotene Human BCO1 generated retinal from alpha-carotene in substrate assays. Condition category: normal nutrient_topic: Vitamin A research collection; topical membership is not evidence of a direct dietary effect. plain_language: Alpha-carotene can feed retinal production. organism: Homo sapiens protein expressed in Escherichia coli tissue_or_cell_type: Cell-free enzyme experimental_model: Purified human BCO1 expressed in E. coli; substrate incubations and HPLC. limitations: Lower catalytic efficiency than beta-carotene under these assay conditions. exposure: Purified BCO1 and alpha-carotene concentration series. outcome: Human BCO1 generated retinal from alpha-carotene in substrate assays. evidence_location: Abstract [va-delasena-2013] Substrate specificity of purified recombinant human beta-carotene 15,15'-oxygenase (BCO1) (2013). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24187135/ DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.507160
Complete structured claim and evidence
The events it takes part in
A mechanism often involves more than two components. These are the full events, with every participant and its role.
Situations it appears in
Low-supply and faulty-machinery situations recorded in the chapters where this component plays a part.
In the sources
Preserved passages that mention this component, quoted exactly. Open one to read it in context.
Open hypotheses
Proposed ideas that involve this component. They are labeled as hypotheses and do not change any recorded statement.
This is a research prototype built from draft material. It is not medical advice, and its statements still await verification against the original studies.