Gemmatimonas phototrophica AP64 is the first phototrophic representative of the bacterial phylum Gemmatimonadetes. The cells contain photosynthetic complexes with bacteriochlorophyll a as the main light-harvesting pigment and an unknown carotenoid with a single broad absorption band at 490 nm in methanol. The carotenoid was extracted from isolated photosynthetic complexes, and purified by liquid chromatography. A combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR, COSY, 1H-13C HSQC, 1H-13C HMBC, J-resolved, and ROESY), high-resolution mass spectroscopy, Fourier-transformed infra-red, and Raman spectroscopy was used to determine its chemical structure. The novel linear carotenoid, that we have named gemmatoxanthin, contains 11 conjugated double bonds and is further substituted by methoxy, carboxyl and aldehyde groups. Its IUPAC-IUBMB semi-systematic name is 1'-Methoxy-19'-oxo-3',4'-didehydro-7,8,1',2'-tetrahydro- Ψ, Ψ carotene-16-oic acid. To our best knowledge, the presence of the carboxyl, methoxy and aldehyde groups on a linear C40 carotenoid backbone is reported here for the first time.

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 1160 31 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Centre Algatech Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences 379 81 Třeboň Czech Republic

Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 1760 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Laboratory of Molecular Structure Characterization Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Vídeňská 1083 Prague Czech Republic

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The Influence of Calcium on the Growth, Morphology and Gene Regulation in Gemmatimonas phototrophica

2.4-Å structure of the double-ring Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem

Phylum Gemmatimonadota and Its Role in the Environment