Nicole Shelton
                Murray State University
               Faculty Sponsor: Jin Liu
                The Study of a Pigment-Protein Complex
  Many sea animals such as lobster, crab, and shrimp are blue. When these animals are cooked, as we know, they appear red. This is due to the denaturing of the proteins, in which the red pigment becomes visible. In nature, the deep blue color is seen because of the complexes between the red pigment and the proteins. This phenomenon is well known. However, interactions between the pigment and proteins are still unknown.

The purpose of this project is to investigate the binding site between the pigment and proteins in the pigment-protein complexes and also the color change (red to blue) which is caused by the interactions between the pigment and proteins.

For this research, four synthetic pigments labeled with different halogens were prepared and their structures confirmed by the way of UV, NMR, and Mass spectrometry. The blue pigment-protein complex was then isolated from the carapace of the lobster and purified. Currently we are working on reconstitution of the natural pigment-protein complex with four synthetic pigments. UV spectra of the new pigment-protein complexes will provide information regarding the interactions between the red pigment and the proteins.
 


   



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