Myxoxanthophyll Myxoxanthophyll Myxoxanthophyll is a carotenoid glycoside pigment present (usually as rhamnosides) in the photosynthetic apparatus of cyanobacteria. It is named after the word ""Myxophyceae"", a former term for cyanobacteria. As a monocyclic xanthophyll, it has a yellowish color. It is required for normal cell wall structure and thylakoid organization in the cyanobacterium "Synechocystis". The pigment is unusual because it is glycosylated on the 2'-OH rather than the 1'-OH position of the molecule. Myxoxanthophyll was first isolated from "Oscillatoria rubenscens" in 1936. The bright red pigment lycopene is the acyclic precursor of all carotenoids in cyanobacteria. In myxoxanthophyll synthesis, lycopene is
Pigment Constantinople. The pigment was expensive and complex to produce, and items colored with it became associated with power and wealth. Greek historian Theopompus, writing in the 4th century BCE, reported that "purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon [in Asia Minor]." Mineral pigments were also traded over long distances. The only way to achieve a deep rich blue was by using a semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli, to produce a pigment known as ultramarine, and the best sources of lapis were remote. Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, working in the 15th century, did not ordinarily include blue in