Abstract
The demand for natural food colorants is growing as consumers question the use of artificial colorants more and more. The phycobiliprotein C-phycocyanin of Arthospira platensis is used as a natural blue colorant in certain food products. The thermoacidophilic red microalga Cyanidioschyzon merolae might provide an alternative source of phycocyanin. Cyanidioschyzon merolae belongs to the order Cyanidiophyceae of the phylum Rhodophyta. Its natural habitat are sulfuric hot springs and geysers found near volcanic areas in, e.g., Yellowstone National Park in the USA and in Java, Indonesia. It grows optimally at a pH between 0.5 and 3.0 and at temperatures up to 56 °C. The low pH at which C. merolae grows minimizes the risk of microbial contamination and could limit production loss. As C. merolae lacks a cell wall, phycocyanin with a high purity number of 9.9 could be extracted by an osmotic shock using a simple ultrapure water extraction followed by centrifugation. The denaturation midpoint at pH 5 was 83 °C, being considerably higher than the A. platensis phycocyanin (65 °C). The C. merolae phycocyanin was relatively stable at pH 4 and 5 up to 80 °C. The high thermostability at slightly acidic pH makes the C. merolae phycocyanin an interesting alternative to A. platensis phycocyanin as a natural blue food colorant.
Highlights
Synthetic dyes are used to provide color to all kinds of food products, confectionary, and beverages (Antello et al 2008)
This paper reports on the production and extraction of phycocyanin from C. merolae by a simple ultrapure water treatment
The 430 and 680 nm maxima are typical for chlorophyll (Giltelson et al 1999), while the 620 nm maximum is typical for phycocyanin (Patel et al 2005)
Summary
Synthetic dyes are used to provide color to all kinds of food products, confectionary, and beverages (Antello et al 2008). Cyanidioschyzon merolae is a unicellular microalga belonging to the order Cyanidiophyceae of the phylum Rhodophyta This species inhabits hot sulfuric springs and geysers in volcanic areas; it grows best at temperatures between 40 and 56 °C and acidic condition of pH 0.5 to 3 (Ciniglia et al 2004). The phycocyanin of another red microalga, Galdieria sulphuraria, has been investigated (Sloth et al 2006; Sørensen et al 2012) as this species grows at relatively high temperatures and low pH, and because it can grow heterotrophically in the dark on sugar as well as autotrophically in the light (Gross and Schnarrenberger 1995). This paper reports on the production and extraction of phycocyanin from C. merolae by a simple ultrapure water treatment
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