Purification, crystallization, NMR spectroscopy and biochemical analyses of alpha-phycoerythrocyanin peptides

Effective removal of fluoride ions from aqueous solution by marine microalgae as natural biosorbent

In this study, the phytoremediation technology from marine source Dunaliella salina was chosen to eliminate fluoride ions from aqueous solution by Adsorption isotherm, Kinetics and RSM optimization methods. Marine microalgae were collected, identified and mass cultured then its physical characteristics, functional groups and surface microstructure was examined by FT-IR, NMR, XRD and SEM analysis also the same was performed on post treated bioadsorbent. Fluoride removal was optimized by different conditions through response surface methodology and kinetics modelling also performed. Several active functional groups were noticed in IR spectra and NMR of pre and post treated microalgal biosorbent. Many micropores, crystalline structure, voids were observed in pre-treated and lesser in post treated bioadsorbent, removal process was optimized by temperature, pH, dose and time and its showed high influence of removal process. The fluoride removal process was optimized by response surface methodology, Langmuir Isotherm, Freundlich Isotherm, Temkin isotherm, Pseudo I order, Pseudo II order and Intra particle diffusion and revealed that the F ions removal mechanism clearly. Microalgae are novel, low-cost and effective bio based innovative methods which are sustainable for the bioremediation of fluoride from water bodies and industrial wastewaters.

Potential use of beneficial fungal microorganisms and C-phycocyanin extract for enhancing seed germination, seedling growth and biochemical traits of Solanum lycopersicum L

Background

Biopriming as a new technique of seed treatment involves the application of beneficial microorganisms on the seed surface to stimulate seed germination, plant growth, and protect the seed from soil and seed-borne pathogens. The present investigation was carried out on seed germination, seedling vigor and biochemical traits of one of the most important vegetable crops (Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L.). The treatments comprised viz. T1: Non primed seeds (Control), T2: Hydropriming, T3: Biopriming with C-phycocyanin (C-PC) (Spirulina platensis extract), T4: Biopriming with Trichoderma asperellum, T5: Biopriming with T. viride, T6: Biopriming with Beauveria bassiana.

Results

Extraction and purification of C-phycocyanin (C-PC) from the dry S. platensis powder using various methods was performed. The purity after dialyses was 0.49 and its ultimate purity (A₆₂₀/A₂₈₀) after ion-exchange chromatography was 4.64. The results on tomato seedlings revealed that the maximum germination percentage (100%), germination index (15.46 and 15.12), seedling length (10.67 cm), seedling dry weight (1.73 and 1.97 mg) and seedling length vigor index (1066.7) were recorded for tomato biopriming with T. viride, and B. bassiana (T5 and T6). Moreover, the quantitative estimation of total carbohydrates and total free amino acids contents in bioprimed tomato seedlings indicated a significantly higher amount with T. viride, followed by those bioprimed with T. asperellum, B. bassiana and C-PC extract.

Conclusion

Thus, our results indicated that biopriming of tomato seeds with beneficial fungal inoculants and C-PC was very effective. The most operative biostimulants were those bioprimed with T. viride and B. bassiana compared to other biostimulants (T. asperellum and C-PC). Therefore, to ensure sustainable agriculture, this study offers new possibilities for the biopriming application as an alternative and ecological management strategy to chemical treatment and provides a valuable basis for improving seed germination.

Two Distinct Photoprocesses in Cyanobacterial Bilin Pigments: Energy Migration in Light‐Harvesting Phycobiliproteins versus Photoisomerization in Phytochromes

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis, respiration and photoperception are connected with the appearance of cyanobacteria. The key compounds, which are involved in these processes, are tetrapyrroles: open chain — bilins and cyclic — chlorophylls and heme. The latter are characterized by their covalent bond with the apoprotein resulting in the formation of biliproteins. This type of photoreceptors is unique in that it can perform important and opposite functions—light‐harvesting in photosynthesis with the participation of phycobiliproteins and photoperception mediated by phycochromes and phytochromes. In this review, cyanobacterial phycobiliproteins and phytochrome Cph1 are considered from a comparative point of view. Structural features of these pigments, which provide their contrasting photophysical and photochemical characteristics, are analyzed. The determining factor in the case of energy migration with the participation of phycobiliproteins is blocking the torsional relaxations of the chromophore, its D‐ring, in the excited state and their freedom, in the case of phytochrome photoisomerization. From the energetics point of view, this distinction is preconditioned by the height of the activation barrier for the photoreaction and relaxation in the excited state, which depends on the degree of the chromophore fixation by its protein surroundings.

Extraction and characterization of phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis and evaluation of its anticancer, antidiabetic and antiinflammatory effect

The phycocyanin was purified by Sephadex- G-100 and RP-HPLC and protein content was found to be 52.82% and the high purity fraction was collected and RP-HPLC analysis of fractionated phycocyanin, the α-subunit and β-subunit were detected in 4.9 and 11.1(mAU). The frequency of peak 1456.26 cm^-1 has showed the CH₂ bending vibration and the protein amide II band was detected at 1539.20 cm^-1 (CO stretching) and 2358.94 cm^-1. In ¹H NMR analysis, 14 chemical shifts (δ) were observed and signals confirmed namely alkyl halide, alkene, aldehyde proton and carboxylic acid. The in vivo anticancer effect was assessed by MTT assay against HepG-2 cell lines and in vivo antidiabetic effect was carried out through α-amylase and β-glucosidase enzyme inhibition methods. The promising anticancer effect 68% was noticed at the concentration of 500 μg/ml and lower anticancer effect was noticed at the concentration of 100 μg/ml against Hep-G2 cell lines. The α-amylase and β-glucosidase enzyme inhibition of phycocyanin showed dose dependent and maximum inhibition effect at 250 μg/ml. Phycocyanin anti-inflammatory effect such as inhibition of albumin denaturation, antiproteinase, hypotonicity-induced haemolysis and anti-lipoxygenase activities have been recorded maximum level at 500 μg/ml. Phycocyanin have complex structure and high molecular weight with more biomedical applications for drug development.

Two Distinct Photoprocesses in Cyanobacterial Bilin Pigments: Energy Migration in Light-Harvesting Phycobiliproteins versus Photoisomerization in Phytochromes

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis, respiration and photoperception are connected with the appearance of cyanobacteria. The key compounds, which are involved in these processes, are tetrapyrroles: open chain - bilins and cyclic - chlorophylls and heme. The latter are characterized by their covalent bond with the apoprotein resulting in the formation of biliproteins. This type of photoreceptors is unique in that it can perform important and opposite functions-light-harvesting in photosynthesis with the participation of phycobiliproteins and photoperception mediated by phycochromes and phytochromes. In this review, cyanobacterial phycobiliproteins and phytochrome Cph1 are considered from a comparative point of view. Structural features of these pigments, which provide their contrasting photophysical and photochemical characteristics, are analyzed. The determining factor in the case of energy migration with the participation of phycobiliproteins is blocking the torsional relaxations of the chromophore, its D-ring, in the excited state and their freedom, in the case of phytochrome photoisomerization. From the energetics point of view, this distinction is preconditioned by the height of the activation barrier for the photoreaction and relaxation in the excited state, which depends on the degree of the chromophore fixation by its protein surroundings.

Efficient purification protocol for bioengineering allophycocyanin trimer with N-terminus Histag

Allophycocyanin plays a key role for the photon energy transfer from the phycobilisome to reaction center chlorophylls with high efficiency in cyanobacteria. Previously, the high soluble self-assembled bioengineering allophycocyanin trimer with N-terminus polyhistidine from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 had been successfully recombined and expressed in Escherichia coli strain. The standard protocol with immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography with chelating transition metal ion (Ni2+) was used to purify the recombinant protein. Extensive optimization works were performed to obtain the desired protocol for high efficiency, low disassociation, simplicity and fitting for large-scale purification. In this study, a 33 full factorial response surface methodology was employed to optimize the varied factors such as pH of potassium phosphate (X1), NaCl concentration (X2), and imidazole concentration (X3). A maximum trimerization ratio (Y1) of approximate A650 nm/A620 nm at 1.024 was obtained at these optimum parameters. Further examinations, with absorbance spectra, fluorescence spectra and SDS-PAGE, confirmed the presence of bioengineering allophycocyanin trimer with highly trimeric form. All these results demonstrate that optimized protocol is efficient in purification of bioengineering allophycocyanin trimer with Histag.

Spectroscopic studies of model photo-receptors: validation of a nanosecond time-resolved micro-spectrophotometer design using photoactive yellow protein and α-phycoerythrocyanin

Time-resolved spectroscopic experiments have been performed with protein in solution and in crystalline form using a newly designed microspectrophotometer. The time-resolution of these experiments can be as good as two nanoseconds (ns), which is the minimal response time of the image intensifier used. With the current setup, the effective time-resolution is about seven ns, determined mainly by the pulse duration of the nanosecond laser. The amount of protein required is small, on the order of 100 nanograms. Bleaching, which is an undesirable effect common to photoreceptor proteins, is minimized by using a millisecond shutter to avoid extensive exposure to the probing light. We investigate two model photoreceptors, photoactive yellow protein (PYP), and α-phycoerythrocyanin (α-PEC), on different time scales and at different temperatures. Relaxation times obtained from kinetic time-series of difference absorption spectra collected from PYP are consistent with previous results. The comparison with these results validates the capability of this spectrophotometer to deliver high quality time-resolved absorption spectra.

Light-induced alteration of c-di-GMP level controls motility of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Cph2 from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is a hybrid photoreceptor that comprises an N-terminal module for red/far-red light reception and a C-terminal module switching between a blue- and a green-receptive state. This unusual photoreceptor exerts complex, light quality-dependent control of the motility of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells by inhibiting phototaxis towards blue light. Cph2 perceives blue light by its third GAF domain that bears all characteristics of a cyanobacteriochrome (CBCR) including photoconversion between green- and blue-absorbing states as well as formation of a bilin species simultaneously tethered to two cysteines, C994 and C1022. Upon blue light illumination the CBCR domain activates the subsequent C-terminal GGDEF domain, which catalyses formation of the second messenger c-di-GMP. Accordingly, expression of the CBCR-GGDEF module in Δcph2 mutant cells restores the blue light-dependent inhibition of motility. Additional expression of the N-terminal Cph2 fragment harbouring a red/far-red interconverting phytochrome fused to a c-di-GMP degrading EAL domain restores the complex behaviour of the intact Cph2 photosensor. c-di-GMP was shown to regulate flagellar and pili-based motility in several bacteria. Here we provide the first evidence that this universal bacterial second messenger is directly involved in the light-dependent regulation of cyanobacterial phototaxis.

Unfolding of C-phycocyanin followed by loss of non-covalent chromophore-protein interactions 1. Equilibrium experiments

Optical spectroscopic properties of the covalently linked chromophores of biliproteins are profoundly influenced by the state of the protein. This has been used to monitor the urea-induced denaturation of C-phycocyanin (CPC) from Mastigocladus laminosus and its subunits. Under equilibrium conditions, absorption, fluorescence and circular dichroism of the chromophores were monitored, as well as the circular dichroism of the polypeptide. Treatment of CPC trimers (alphabeta)3 resulted first in monomerization (alphabeta), which was followed by a complex unfolding process of the protein. Loss of chromophore fluorescence is the next process at increasing urea concentrations; it indicates increased flexibility of the chromophore while maintaining the native, extended conformation, and a less compact but still native-like packing of the protein in the regions sampled by the chromophores. This was followed by relaxation of the chromophores from the energetically unfavorable extended to a cyclic-helical conformation, as reported by absorption and CD in the visible range, indicating local loss of protein structure. Only then is the protein secondary structure lost, as reported by the far-UV CD. Sequential processes were also seen in the subunits, where again the chromophore-protein interactions were reduced before the unfolding of the protein. It is concluded that the bilin chromophores are intrinsic probes suitable to differentiate among different processes involved in protein denaturation.

Local protein flexibility as a prerequisite for reversible chromophore isomerization in alpha-phycoerythrocyanin

Phycoerythrocyanin is the only cyanobacterial phycobiliprotein containing phycoviolobilin as a chromophore. The phycoviolobilin chromophore is photo-reactive; upon irradiation, the chromophore undergoes a Z/E-isomerization involving the rotation of pyrrole-ring D. We have determined the structure of trimeric phycoerythrocyanin at three different experimental settings: monochromatically at 110 K and 295 K as well as with the Laue method at 288 K. Based on their chemical structures, the restraints for the phycoviolobilin of the alpha-subunit and for the phycocyanobilin chromophores of the beta-subunit were newly generated, which allows a chemically meaningful refinement of both chromophores. All three phycoerythrocyanin structures are very similar; the subunits match within 0.5 A. The detailed comparison of the data obtained with the different measurements provided information about the protein properties around the phycoviolobilin chromophore. For the first time, crystals of a phycobilisome protein are used successfully with the Laue technique. This paves the way for time-resolved macromolecular crystallography, which is able to elucidate the exact mechanisms of the phycoviolobilin photoactivity including the protein involvement.

Nonenzymatic chromophore attachment in biliproteins: conformational control by the detergent Triton X-100

While chromophore attachment to alpha-subunits of cyanobacterial biliproteins has been studied in some detail, little is known about this process in beta-subunits. The ones of phycoerythrocyanin and C-phycocyanin each carry two phycocyanobilin (PCB) chromophores covalently attached to cysteins beta84 and beta155. The differential nonenzymatic reconstitution of PCB to the apoproteins, PecA, PecB, CpcA and CpcB, as well as to mutant proteins of the beta-subunits lacking either one of the two binding cysteins, was studied using overexpression of the respective genes. PCB adds selectively to Cys-84 of CpcA, CpcB, PecA, and PecB, but the bound chromophore has a nonnative configuration, and in the case of CpcA, is partly oxidized to mesobiliverdin (MBV). The oxidation is independent of thiols but can be suppressed by ascorbate. The addition to Cys-beta84 is suppressed in the presence of detergents like Triton X-100, in favor of an addition to Cys-beta155 yielding the correctly bound chromophore. Triton X-100 also inhibits oxidation of the chromophore during addition to CpcA. The effect of Triton X-100 was studied on the isolated components of the reconstitution system. Absorption, fluorescence and circular dichroism spectra indicate a major conformational change of the chromophore upon addition of the detergent, which probably controls the site selectivity of the addition reaction, and inhibits the oxidation of PCB to MBV.

Energy transfer in monomeric phycoerythrocyanin

Phycoerythrocyanin (PEC) is part of the phycobilisome of cyanobacteria. Its monomer carries one phycoviolobilin and two phycocyanobilins (PCB) as chromophores. For an understanding of the complicated energy transfer in phycobilisomes, a detailed knowledge of the processes in the constituting building proteins is indispensable. We report the experimental data necessary for the description of Förster energy transfer in monomeric PEC, including fluorescence lifetimes and quantum yields of the two subunits. The bulk experiments are complemented by studies of single PEC molecules. Förster energy calculations and Monte Carlo simulations based on the bulk data are presented. They reveal that earlier experimental findings of energy transfer heterogeneities in single PEC molecules originate in spectral shifts between the contributing chromophores.

Photochromic chromopeptides derived from phycoerythrocyanin: biophysical and biochemical characterization

Truncated chromopeptides have been prepared from the small photo- and redox-switchable biliprotein alpha-phycoerythrocyanin (alpha-PEC). The native chromoprotein consists of a C-terminal globin domain containing the chromophore and the regulatory cysteins 98 and 99, and a two-helix (X,Y) N-terminal domain responsible for aggregation. Digestion with chymotrypsin-free trypsin leads to three chromopeptides, (N-30, N-33 and N-35), basically lacking the two N-terminal helices X and Y. The photo- and redox chemistry of the major product (N-33) is identical, qualitatively and quantitatively, to that of native alpha-PEC. A series of N- and C-terminally truncated polypeptides were expressed in E. coli and subjected to autocatalytic and enzymatic reconstitution with phycocyanobilin. Enzymatic reconstitution was possible with N-terminally truncated polypeptides up to 45 aa, while neither a more extensively shortened (N-63) peptide, nor two C-terminally shortened polypeptides could be reconstituted. All chromopeptides recovered from enzymatic reconstitution contained the native phycoviolobilin chromophore and showed the photochemical and redox reactivity of alpha-PEC, albeit quantitatively reduced in the N-45 chromopeptide.