Structures and apoprotein linkages of phycoerythrobilin and phycocyanobilin

Phycoerythrobilin and phycocyanobilin are covalently attached to the apoproteins of phycoerythrins and phycocyanins. One linkage consists of an ester bond between the hydroxy group of a serine residue and the propionate side chain on one of the inner pyrrole rings (probably ring C). The other linkage is a labile thioether bond between a cysteine residue and the two-carbon side chain on pyrrole ring A. This side chain and both of the alpha-positions of the ring A are in the reduced state. This constitutes an important structural revision, since, in the structures currently accepted for the phycobilins, the two-carbon side chain on ring A is depicted as an ethylidene grouping and this has been regarded not only as a very characteristic feature of the phycobilins, but also as a probable structural feature of the chromophore of phytochrome, largely on the basis of other analogies with the phycobilins. The ethylidene-containing structures apply instead to artefact forms of the pigments released from the apoproteins by treatment with hot methanol. Cleavage of the ring-A linkage involves an elimination reaction releasing the cysteine residue and generating a double bond in the ring-A side chain. During cleavage in methanol the direction of the elimination is towards the ring, generating the ethylidene double bond. Since this is linked to the conjugated system, the methanol-released pigments differ spectrally from the native phycobilins. During acid-catalysed release of the pigments, the elimination apparently goes in the opposite direction, generating a double bond at the outer position of the side chain. Since this double bond is not linked to the conjugated system, the acid-released pigments remain spectrally identical with their protein-bound counterparts.