Development of an efficient process to extract c-phycocyanin from marine cyanobacterial strains and evaluation of its bioactive potential

Abstract

BACKGROUNDPhycocyanin (PC), a natural blue photosynthetic pigment found in cyanobacteria, rhodophyta and cryptophyta has numerous applications in biotechnology and the food industry. The phycocyanin extraction method has a significant impact on its bioactivities, purity index, cost and potential applications; thus, the development of an efficient extraction strategy continues to be a primary research goal.RESULTSThis study evaluated the efficacy of different methods for the extraction of cyanobacterial phycocyanin (C-PC) from three marine cyanobacterial isolates, namely Arthrospira platensis, Phormidium sp. and Pseudoscillatoria sp. wet biomass. The pretreatment step of soaking biomass in extraction buffer for 60 min, followed by a combination of freeze-thaw (one cycle; 2 h) and sonication (2 min) treatment was found to be the most effective extraction strategy, producing the highest C-PC yield (16.19 +/- 0.34%, 15.89 +/- 0.61% and 15.56 +/- 0.69% dry cell weight for strains A. platensis, Phormidium sp. and Pseudoscillatoria sp., respectively). Furthermore, a biomass-to-solvent ratio of 0.02 g mL-1 was optimal to attain food-grade purity ((A620/A280) >= 0.7). Bioactivity evaluation of crude and purified C-PC exhibited its potential as antioxidant compounds and as an antimicrobial agent with significant inhibitory effects against various pathogenic microorganisms.CONCLUSIONThe study proposed an efficient and cost-effective C-PC extraction process for cyanobacteria and highlighted the potential of C-PC as a valuable bioactive compound with various applications.