PRODUCTION, EXTRACTION AND PURIFICATION OF PHYCOBILIPROTEINS FROM NOSTOC SP

Orle strain of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp. PCC 9202) wa s grown indoors in 1 litre glass air-lift reactors as well as 17 litre polyethylene bags. Temperature dependence of growth-kinetic parameter s, as well as of biomass and phycobiliprotein productivities, were det ermined. Harvesting and phycobiliprotein extraction methodologies are presented. The purification of crude extracts was performed by means o f ultrafiltration or (NH4)(2)SO4 precipitation followed by gel filtrat ion and ion-exchange chromatography. Final phycocyanin and phycoerythr in preparations were characterized by purity ratios above 4 and 5, res pectively. Phycobiliprotein production cost determination for each pur ity grade and cumulative phycobiliprotein weight losses along purifica tion steps are shown. Production cost for high purity phycoerythrin (3 0 US$ per g) scans to be far below the marker price. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.