Allophycocyanin is a protein from the light-harvesting phycobiliprotein family, along with phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and phycoerythrocyanin. It is an accessory pigment to chlorophyll. All phycobiliproteins are water-soluble and therefore cannot exist within the membrane like carotenoids, but aggregate, forming clusters that adhere to the membrane called phycobilisomes. Allophycocyanin absorbs and emits red light (650 & 660 nm max, respectively), and is readily found in Cyanobacteria (also called blue-green algae), and red algae. Phycobilin pigments have fluorescent properties that are used in immunoassay kits.Allophycocyanin can be isolated from various species of red or blue-green algae, each producing slightly different forms of the molecule. It is composed of two different subunits (α and β) in which each subunit has one phycocyanobilin (PCB) chromophore. Here you can see an idealized model of the high resolution crystal structure of allophycocyanin from the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. WR13 (PDB code: 6YX8)
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #cyanobacterium ... #pigment ... #allophycocyanin ... #biologicalapps ... #Xray ... Rendered with @proteinimaging and polished with @corelphotopaint
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #cyanobacterium ... #pigment ... #allophycocyanin ... #biologicalapps ... #Xray ... Rendered with @proteinimaging and polished with @corelphotopaint
