Carotenoid metabolism during chloroplast to chromoplast transformation in Capsicum annuum fruit

Lipid and carotenoid metabolism associated with the structural transformations of the plastids during the ripening of Capsicum annuum fruits were studied. The early ripening stage is characterized by chloroplasts with a typical grana-intergranal structure and a highly developed peripheral reticulum. At a later stage the thylakoid system is disintegrated and replaced by non-chlorophyllous single thylakoids, derived in part from the inner envelope membrane. First, these changes coincide with a loss of galactolipids, a slow increase in phospholipid content, a decrease in the ratio galactolipids/phospholipids and in the galactosyl transferase activities on a protein basis. Second, these changes correlate with an enhanced accumulation of keto-carotenoids. When the phospholipid environment is disturbed by difluorodinitrobenzene or phospholipases, the biosynthesis of phytoene, β-carotene, and capsanthin is inhibited; phospholipase D has a greater effect. The role of a phospholipid environment in carotenoid biosynthesis is discussed.