Isolation of C-phycocyanin from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Synechococcus</Emphasis> sp., (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anacystis nidulans</Emphasis> BD1)

We report a procedure for obtaining fairly pure phycocyanin from a local isolate of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp (Anacystis nidulans BD1). Cells were incubated with 1 mg∙mL⁻¹ of lysozyme at 37°C for 16 h with shaking. The cell-free extract was treated with activated charcoal and chitosan. The purity (A _620/280) of phycocyanin obtained after lysozyme treatment was up to 2.18, which could be improved to 4.72 after incubation with activated charcoal and chitosan. The yield of phycocyanin was 80–100 mg∙g⁻¹ dry weight of cells. The method reported here is a single-step and efficient procedure and has the potential to be adopted for large-scale production of phycocyanin.