Peridinin

Peridinin is a light-harvesting apocarotenoid, a pigment associated with chlorophyll and found in the peridinin-chlorophyll-protein (PCP) light-harvesting complex in dinoflagellates, best studied in Amphidinium carterae.

[1] Peridinin is an apocarotenoid pigment that some organisms use in photosynthesis.

The peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex is a specialized molecular complex consisting of a boat-shaped protein molecule with a large central cavity that contains peridinin, chlorophyll, and lipid molecules, usually in a 4:1 ratio of peridinin to chlorophyll.

[1][2][3] Peridinin chlorophyll (PerCP) is commonly used in immunoassays such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and flow cytometry.

The fluorophore is covalently linked to proteins or antibodies for use in research applications.

Skeletal formula
Skeletal formula
Crystal structure of the soluble peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex from the photosynthetic dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae . This complex is found in many photosynthetic dinoflagellates and involves a boat or cradle-shaped protein with two pseudosymmetrical repeats of eight alpha helices (shown in blue and orange) wrapped around a pigment-filled central cavity. Each eight-helix segment binds one chlorophyll molecule (green, with central magnesium ion shown as a green sphere), one diacylglycerol molecule (yellow) and four peridinin molecules (gray). [ 1 ]
Emission and excitation spectra of Peridinin Chlorophyll (PerCP)