Alga Spirulina Research Articles

Antigen‐Antibody Crossed Electrophoresis of Soluble Proteins in Different Strains of Spirulina

AbstractSoluble proteins from three strains of the blue‐green alga Spirulina were compared by antigen‐antibody crossed electrophoresis. The three algal strains were shown to contain at least two immunologically identical proteins. Differences between all three strains were found among proteins with low electrophoretic mobility. Antigen‐antibody crossed electro‐phoresis is a very sensitive method and could be used as a complement to morphology and other characteristics when comparing different algal strains.

A stable and easily extractable plant-type ferredoxin from the blue-green alga Spirulina maxima

The 2Fe + 2S plant-type ferredoxin from the blue-green alga Spirulina, maxima can be easily extracted in high yield −35 mg ferredoxin/100 g dried cells. The cells can be stored as a dried powder which is readily obtainable. The purified ferredoxin is very stable even aerobically at room temperature. It is much more stable than the five other plant-type ferredoxins with which it was compared. The biological activity of all ferredoxins was comparable.

The Ultrastructure of Spirulina platensis— A New Source of Microbial Protein

AbstractThe ultrastructure of the blue‐green alga Spirulina platensis has been investigated. The appearance of photosynthetic thylakoids, polyphosphate and cyanophycin granules and nucleoplasm was studied. Cells of Spirulina have also been disintegrated and extracted with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide and the amount of extractable and isoelectrically precipitable nitrogen has been determined. High yields were obtained with about 60 % of the nitrogen precipitable after extraction of disintegrated cells.