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Article: Pigments
- Article from:
- Plant Sciences
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Pigments
Plant pigments are essential for photosynthesis, a process that supports all plant and animal life. They also play a key role in sensing light to regulate plant development and in establishing the communication between plants and the animals around them. Further, some plant pigments are the source of nutritional
compounds
required for or useful to the diets of humans and other animals.
The major classes of visible plant pigments are chlorophylls, carotenoids, flavonoids (including anthocyanins), and betalains. Each of these classes of pigments is composed of several individual compounds. For example, there are two major chlorophylls in higher plants, while there are hundreds ...