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Thermal and pH Stability of the B-Phycoerythrin from the Red Algae Porphyridium cruentum

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Abstract

Phycoerythrin is the major light-harvesting pigment-protein of the red algae Porphyridium cruentum and is widely used as fluorescent probe and analytical reagent. Additionally this protein has a potential application as natural dye in food industry. Nevertheless the knowledge of the functional properties of this alga protein is limited, hindering its application as food additive. In this article we report a biophysical characterization of B-phycoerythrin from Porphyridium cruentum (B-PE) in order to study its stability and spectral properties in a broad range of pHs. This information can help in its potential application as colorant in the food industry. Spectroscopic data obtained in this work show that B-PE has a stronger functional stability in the pH range 4.0–10.0, and Size Exclusion Chromatography suggests that the protein maintains a (αβ)6-γ oligomeric structure in that range of pHs. At pH 7.0, an apparent T m value of 77.5 ± 0.5 °C was calculated. At this pH, the protein is highly stable with a loss of only 20 % of its spectral properties (absorbance and fluorescence) after 25 days at room temperature. These results indicate that B-PE is more stable in a broad range of pHs than other phycoerythrin proteins, which would facilitate its use in the food industry.

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Notes

  1. Since three different subunits are present in B-PE, the unfolding of this protein might be more complicated than a two-state mechanism.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCINN) BIO2009-13261-C02-01/02 and Ministerio de Economia y competitividad (MECOM) BIO2012-39922-C02-01/02 of Spain and FEDER (EU). Additional funding was supported by grant P09-CVI-5063 from Andalusian Regional Government (Spain) and FEDER (EU). This work has been performed by members of the research groups BIO-328 Protein Structures of the Andalusian Regional Government (Spain).

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Author notes

  1. Sergio Martínez-Rodríguez

    Present address: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Physics, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (CeiA3), University of Almería, Almería, Spain

    Emilio González-Ramírez, Montserrat Andújar-Sánchez, Emilia Ortiz-Salmerón, Julio Bacarizo, Celia Cuadri, Ana Cámara-Artigas & Sergio Martínez-Rodríguez

  2. Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología Agroalimentaria, BITAL, Almería, Spain

    Montserrat Andújar-Sánchez, Emilia Ortiz-Salmerón, Julio Bacarizo, Ana Cámara-Artigas & Sergio Martínez-Rodríguez

  3. Department of Engineering, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (CeiA3), University of Almería, Almería, Spain

    Tania Mazzuca-Sobczuk & María José Ibáñez

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  1. Emilio González-Ramírez
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Correspondence to Ana Cámara-Artigas or Sergio Martínez-Rodríguez.

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González-Ramírez, E., Andújar-Sánchez, M., Ortiz-Salmerón, E. et al. Thermal and pH Stability of the B-Phycoerythrin from the Red Algae Porphyridium cruentum . Food Biophysics 9, 184–192 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11483-014-9331-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11483-014-9331-x

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