Phycobiliprotein: Potential microalgae derived pharmaceutical and biological reagent

Microalgae are considered as a great potential for reliable and sustainable feedstock for the production of biofuels and biochemically active compounds such as phycobiliproteins. Phycobiliproteins are a group of colored proteins present commonly not only in cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) but also in red algae, cryptomonads, etc. They are extensively commercially used in foods, cosmetics, biotechnology, pharmacology and medicine. Phycobiliproteins have high potential pharmaceutical and biological properties but their application is confronted with two major obstacles: (i) the upstream and downstream processes still have some hindrances such as selection of suitable microalgae strains, bioreactor design, culture conditions, etc.; (ii) the purification of phycobiliproteins from microalgae is still low. Biosynthesis of higher purity phycobiliproteins from microalgae is a multiple concomitant steps for which the main criteria and factors were discussed in this paper. This review highlights an overview on the phycobiliproteins application fields such as pharmaceutical, medicine, biological and diagnostic reagents, etc., and meanwhile provides an insight for further research in development, production, and application of phycobiliproteins.