Cloning and sequencing of the phycocyanin gene from Spirulina maxima and its evolutionary analysis

摘要

The genes were cloned for the two apoprotein subunits, alpha and beta, of phycocyanin from the cyanobacterium Spirulina maxima(= Arthrospira maxima) strain F3. The alpha- and beta-subunit gene-coding regions contain 489 bp and 519 bp, respectively. The beta-subunit gene is upstream from the alpha-subunit gene, with a 111 -bp segment separating them. Similarities between the alpha-subunits of S. maxima and seven other cyanobacteria were between 63% and 99%, as were those between the beta-subunits. The maximum similarity between the alpha- and beta-subunits from S. maxima was 27%.