The prosthetic group of C-phycocyanin

Spectral Properties of the Phycobilins. I. Phycocyanobilin*

“…An approximately 1000-fold decrease in fluorescence intensity was observed when a solution of C-phycocyanin at pH 8 was made 50 % with respect to ethanol. Simultaneously, the red absorption maximum of the biliprotein was shifted from 615 µ to 600 µ, with a sharp fall in optical density (O hEocha and Lambe, 1961). The higher optical density of native phycocyanin is apparent from the difference spectrum (Fig.…”

“…Later, when C-phycocyanin from a different algal source was studied under apparently identical conditions, very little pigment was obtained, but on longer hydrolysis a third pigment was recovered which differed from the two already mentioned (O hEocha and Lambe, 1961). This pointed to the possibility that Cphycocyanin from different plant sources may contain different prosthetic groups.…”