Spirulina platensis

The red microalga Porphyridium aerugineum is a source of blue color. This species is different from other red microalgae in that it lacks red phycoerythrin and its phycocyanin is C-phycocyanin rather than the R-phycocyanin that accompanies phycoerythrin found in many red algae and in other Porphyridium species. However, the biochemicals produced by P. aerugineum are similar to those of other red microalgae, e.g., sulfated polysaccharides, carotenoids, and lipids. An alternative source of C-phycocyanin is Spirulina platensis. ... 

Bermejo, R. et ah. Expanded bed adsorption chromatography for recovery of phyco-cyanins from the microalga Spirulina platensis, Chromatographia, 63, 59, 2006. Thieghem, (van) R, Monascus, genre nouveau de I ordre des ascomycfetes. Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 31, 226, 1884. 

Rakhimberdieva, M. G., V. A. Boichenko, N. V. Karapetyan, and I. N. Stadnichuk (2001). Interaction of phy-cobilisomes with photosystem B dimers and photosystem I monomers and trimers in the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. Biochemistry 40(51) 15780-15788. 

AKHILENDER NADU, M., VISWANATHA, S., NARASINKA MURTHY, K., ravishankar, g. A. and srinivar, l. Toxicity assessment of phycocyanin, a blue colorant from blue green algae, Spirulina platensis, Food Biotechnol., 1999, 13, 51-6. 

Fig. 2.30. Total ion current chromatogram of alga Spirulina Platensis algae sample by LC-TurbolSP-MS and positive-ion mass spectra of the carotenoids identified 1 = zeaxanthin 2 = /Tcryptoxanthin 3 = /1-carotene. Reprinted with permission from M. Careri et al. [69].

Figure 19 X-Ray structure of the active site of the 2Fe ferredoxin of Spirulina platensis...

Biotransformation of or-Bromo and a,a -Dibromo Alkanone into or-Hydroxyketone and ar-Diketone by Spirulina platensis... 

Aoyama, K., Uemura, I., Miyake, J., Asada, Y. 1987. Fermentative metabolism to produce hydrogen gas and organie compounds in a cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. J Ferment Bioeng 83 17-20. 

Vonshak A. (1997) Spirulina platensis (Arthrospira) Physiology, Cell-biology and Biotechnology. Taylor Francis, London. 

Figure 16-16 (A) Superimposed stereoscopic a-carbon traces of the peptide chain of rubredoxin from Clostridium pasteurianum with either Fe3+ (solid circles) or Zn2+ (open circles) bound by four cysteine side chains. From Dauter et al.27i (B) Alpha-carbon trace for ferredoxin from Clostridium, acidurici. The two Fe4S4 clusters attached to eight cysteine side chains are also shown. The open circles are water molecules. Based on a high-resolution X-ray structure by Duee et al.267 Courtesy of E. D. Duee. (C) Polypeptide chain of a chloroplast-type ferredoxin from the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. The Fe2S2 cluster is visible at the top of the molecule. From Fukuyama et al.276 Courtesy of K. Fukuyama.

The structure of oxidized Spirulina platensis ferredoxin has been established by X-ray analysis, and is as shown in Fig. 9 (30). Three Cys thiolates in an invariant sequence, Cys-A-B-C-D-Cys-X-Y-Cys, bind the... 

Fig. 9. The X-ray structure within 5 A of Fe2S2 core ligated by Cys-Arg-Ala-Gly-Ala-Cys-Ser-Thr-Cys is Spirulina platensis ferredoxin (6, 30).

The best source for Chi a is the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis, which is available commercially. Chi a/b mixtures can be obtained from all green plants. All other Chls are less readily accessible, which limits their applications. Several Chi derivatives are used as dyes for food colorants (Cu-chlorophyllin) and cosmetics. The chlorophyll used for the latter is a complex mixture of degradation products. More recently, (B)Chl derivatives have gained increasing interest as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy of cancer, these compounds include pigments in which the isocyclic ring is opened and/or the central metal has been removed or replaced (e.g., by Pd" " ) to increase phototoxcicity (12, 13). 

Abbreviations Asa, Artemia salina Dme, Drosophila melanogaster Hsa, Homo sapiens Egr, Euglena gracilis, Ddi, Dictyostelium discoideum Sso, S. solfataricus Tee, Thermococcus celer Pwo, Pyrococcus woesei Mva, M. vannielii Hma, Halobacterium marismortui Tac, Thermoplasma acidophilum Tma, Thermotoga marilima Tth, Thermus thermophilus Eco, E. coli Mlu, Micrococcus luteus, Spl, Spirulina platensis Ech, E. gracilis chloroplast Smt, Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria. 

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