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Fig. 10 | Biology Direct

Fig. 10

From: Tradeoff between robustness and elaboration in carotenoid networks produces cycles of avian color diversification

Fig. 10

Biochemical scope [number of compounds (red) and reactions (blue)] for main dietary carotenoids and their combinations (bottom, in red). Dietary carotenoids (ao) differ by which biochemical generation (simplest consecutive reactions) they reach an additional dietary compound (green “diet” with arrow and dashed vertical line) and the generation by which they encompass the entire avian carotenoid network space (solid vertical line). Horizontal double-headed arrows show areas that are inaccessible in avian evolution given the probability of losses for linear metabolic pathways (Fig. 3a). Main dietary compounds (lutein (lut), zeaxanthin (zea), β-carotene (βcar), β-cryptoxanthin (βcry) and their combinations are arranged, in ascending order, by the number of generations they require to encompass full avian network

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