PHYCOBILIPROTEINS: COMPARISON OF SOLUTION AND SINGLE CRYSTAL FLUORESCENCE FOR C-PHYCOCYANIN AND B-PHYCOERYTHRIN*

Abstract— Trimeric and hexameric solution forms of C-phycocyanin (CPC) from the cyanophyte Agme-nellum quadruplicatum have been isolated and their spectral properties compared to those obtained from single crystals. Although the absorbance peak of a suspension of small C-phycocyanin crystals is red-shifted only 7 nm relative to the solution forms, the single crystal fluorescence is red-shifted 60 nm relative to the solution forms. The crystal fluorescence spectrum exhibits a single peak at LD_max= 708 nm when excited at 514.5 or 530.9 nm and two peaks (LD_max= 661 and 708 nm) when excitation occurs at 568.2 nm. Fluorescence depolarization measurements indicate that extensive energy transfer could occur for both solution and crystal forms with the latter being dependent upon the relative orientation of the crystal with respect to the excitation dipole. Similar results were obtained with B-phycoerythrin (BPE) from the red alga Porphyridium cruentum where the single crystal fluorescence is red-shifted =50nm relative to the solution spectra with two peaks (LD_max= 583 and 617 nm) observed whose relative intensities are dependent on the excitation wavelength (LD_max– 514.5 and 530.9 nm). Single crystal fluorescent lifetimes exhibited considerable shortening relative to that observed for the solution forms. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to the possible relationships of the crystalline structures to the assembly forms present within phycobilisomes.