Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Feb 26, 2016; 7(1): 100-109
Published online Feb 26, 2016. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v7.i1.100
Recent advances in production, purification and applications of phycobiliproteins
Ravi Raghav Sonani, Rajesh Prasad Rastogi, Rutvij Patel, Datta Madamwar
Ravi Raghav Sonani, Rajesh Prasad Rastogi, Rutvij Patel, Datta Madamwar, BRD School of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar 388120, Anand, Gujarat, India
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no potential conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Datta Madamwar, BRD School of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Vadtal Road, Satellite Campus, Post Box No. 39, Vallabh Vidyanagar 388120, Anand, Gujarat, India. datta_madamwar@yahoo.com
Telephone: +91-02692-229380 Fax: +91-02692-236475
Received: June 28, 2015
Peer-review started: July 5, 2015
First decision: August 16, 2015
Revised: November 7, 2015
Accepted: December 16, 2015
Article in press: December 18, 2015
Published online: February 26, 2016
Abstract

An obligatory sunlight requirement for photosynthesis has exposed cyanobacteria to different quantity and quality of light. Cyanobacteria can exhibit efficient photosynthesis over broad region (450 to 650 nm) of solar spectrum with the help of brilliantly coloured pigment proteins called phycobiliproteins (PBPs). Besides light-harvesting, PBPs are found to involve in several life sustaining phenomena including photoprotection in cyanobacteria. The unique spectral features (like strong absorbance and fluorescence), proteineous nature and, some imperative properties like hepato-protective, anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging activity of PBPs enable their use in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. PBPs have been also noted to show beneficial effect in therapeutics of some disease like Alzheimer and cancer. Such large range of applications increases the demand of PBPs in commodity market. Therefore, the large-scale and coast effective production of PBPs is the real need of time. To fulfil this need, many researchers have been working to find the potential producer of PBPs for the production and purification of PBPs. Results of these efforts have caused the inventions of some novel techniques like mixotrophic and heterotrophic strategies for production and aqueous two phase separation for purification purpose. Overall, the present review summarises the recent findings and identifies gaps in the field of production, purification and applications of this biological and economically important proteins.

Keywords: Phycobiliproteins, Nutraceutical, Fluorescence, Pharmaceutical, Cyanobacteria

Core tip: The present review compiles the overall research that has been done so far in the field of production, purification and application of phycobiliptoteins (PBPs). The comparative accounts for different methods for PBPs production, purification have been discussed. The potential applications of PBPs in various industries including food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical have been debated rationally. Remaining questions and research gaps in respected field have been highlighted as conclusion.