Isolation and characterization of a new subunit of phycocyanin from Chroomonas placoidea

A new phycocyanin（PC） fluorescent subunit namedβ₂（18kDa） was isolated and characterized by both SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing（IEF） from a species of cryptophytic alga Chroomonas placoidea.PC was separated and purified by ammonium sulfate sedimentation followed by two steps of Sephadex G-100 chromatography.After denatured in 4 mol/L urea for 48 h,PC was divided into two fractions by passing through a Sephacryl S-100 chromatography column twice.The blue fraction（S-1） containedβsubunits with a maximal absorbance at 595 nm in visible light region.While the green fraction（S-2） enriched inαsubunits showed a characteristic long wavelength absorbance at 680-700 nm region and exhibited a relatively low molecular weight of 9.4（α₁） and 8.5 kDa（α₂）.Fraction S-1 also consisted of two different fluorescent subunits with molecular weight of 20.1 kDa（β₁） and 18 kDa （β₂） and differed from each other on isoelectric points of pH 5.7（ft） and 6.0（ft）,respectively.Further investigation of peptide sequence will help a lot in elucidating the new subunit ft that was smaller in size and more neutral than the known ft subunit,and may provide an alternative explanation in structure of cryptophytic phycobiliproteins.