[Caroteno-protein complexes in Axinella verrucosa (Porifera: Demospongae)]

Carotenoproteins are common to a wide variety of animals, most notably invertebrates although other animal groups have been shown to have these complexes as well. In a previous paper alpha-carotene, renieratene, isorenieratene and an unknown isomer of renieratene were isolated, but at present nothing is known about nature of the carotenoid-protein complexes in A. verrucosa. In this paper we report our results about a carotenoid-protein complex extracted by TRITON X-100 and purified by Sephadex G 200 Fine and DEAE-Sephacel chromatography. This carotenoprotein had a molecular weight of ca. 390,000 dalton (Gel electrophoresis). SDS PAGE plate showed only a single polypeptide chain of ca. 50,000 dalton. The proteic band separated by PAGE plate electrophoresis showed the presence of lipids and glycids when stained respectively by Sudan Black B and by Schiff's reagent. The extract obtained without TRITON X-100 showed the presence of a similar carotenoid-protein complex, but because of the low proteic concentration this result should be confirmed.