Carotenoid Metabolism in Terrestrial Animals

Terrestrial animals, especially insects, contain various carotenoids that show structural diversity. These animals accumulated carotenoids derived from plants and other animals and modified them through metabolic reactions. Therefore, most of the carotenoids found in terrestrial animals originated from plants. Conversely, recent investigation revealed that some species of aphids and spider mites synthesized carotenoid themselves by carotenoid biosynthetic genes, which were horizontally transferred from fungi. In this chapter, carotenoids in terrestrial animals are described from the viewpoints of natural product chemistry, metabolism, food chain, and chemosystematics.