Iranian Researchers Produce Phycocyanin Pigment without Chemicals for Pharmaceutical Industry

“Phycocyanin pigments are produced in the powdered form in most countries of the world and have not been produced in Iran so far. But now, all the technology and materials needed for its production have been achieved from A to Z by the specialists of our company,” Hassan Qazanfari, the managing director of the knowledge-based company, told ANA.

“The most important advantage of these pigments is their protein and naturalness. No chemicals are used in making these pigments and they are completely physically concentrated,” he added.

Noting that the pigments are used in food and cosmetic-health industries, Qazanfari said, “These pigments are edible and can be used for all dairy products, all types of drinks, and cosmetic products.”

Phycocyanin is a pigment-protein complex from the light-harvesting phycobiliprotein family, along with allophycocyanin and phycoerythrin. It is an accessory pigment to chlorophyll. All phycobiliproteins are water-soluble, so they cannot exist within the membrane like carotenoids can.

Instead, phycobiliproteins aggregate to form clusters that adhere to the membrane called phycobilisomes. Phycocyanin is a characteristic light blue color, absorbing orange and red light, particularly near 620 nm (depending on which specific type it is), and emits fluorescence at about 650 nm (also depending on which type it is).

There are many different methods of phycocyanin production, including photoautotrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic and recombinant production.

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