Chemistry
The red color of the fruit bodies is due to five types of carotenoid pigments, including plectaniaxanthin and beta-carotene. Carotenoids are lipid-soluble and are stored within granules in the paraphyses. British-Canadian mycologist Arthur Henry Reginald Buller suggested that pigments in fruit bodies exposed to the Sun absorb some of the Sun's rays, raising the temperature of the hymenium—hastening the development of the ascus and subsequent spore discharge.
Lectins are sugar-binding proteins that are used in blood typing, biochemical studies and medical research. A lectin has been purified and characterized from S. coccinea fruit bodies that can bind selectively to several specific carbohydrate molecules, including lactose.
Read more about this topic: Sarcoscypha Coccinea
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