title: Large-scale recovery of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis using expanded bed adsorption chromatography.
abstract: C-phycocyanin was purified on a large scale by a combination of expanded bed adsorption, anion-exchange chromatography and hydroxyapatite chromatography from inferior Spirulina platensis that cannot be used for human consumption. First, phycobiliproteins were extracted by a simple, scaleable method and then were recovered by Phenyl-Sepharose chromatography in an expanded bed column. The purity (the A(620)/A(280) ratio) of C-phycocyanin isolated with STREAMLINE column was up to 2.87, and the yield was as high as 31 mg/g of dried S. platensis. After the first step, we used conventional anion-exchange chromatography for the purification steps, with a yield of 7.7 mg/g of dried S. platensis at a purity greater than 3.2 and with an A(620)/A(650) index higher than 5.0. The fractions from anion-exchange chromatography with a level of purity that did not conform to the above standard were subjected to hydroxyapatite chromatography, with a C-PC yield of 4.45 mg/g of dried S. platensis with a purity greater than 3.2. The protein from both purification methods showed one absolute absorption peak at 620 nm and a fluorescence maximum at 650 nm, which is consistent with the typical spectrum of C-phycocyanin. SDS-PAGE gave two bands corresponding to 21 and 18 kDa. In-gel digestion and LC-ESI-MS showed that the protein is C-phycocyanin.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Guang-Ce
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang-zhi
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Bai-Cheng
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D010798:Phycocyanin / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D053545:Spirulina / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010798:Phycocyanin