Spectroscopic studies on the interaction between phycocyanin and bovine serum albumin

Bluish phycocyanin was obtained from the cyanobacteria namely Spirulina sp. (marine form). The interaction between phycocyanin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied by using absorption, FT-IR, steady-state, time resolved and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy. Phycocyanin effectively quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA. The number of binding sites (n) and binding constant (K) was measured by fluorescence quenching method. The interaction between phycocyanin and BSA occurs through static quenching and conformational changes of BSA were observed.