noun

• Any of a group of red or blue photosynthetic pigments present in some algae.

  ‘Unlike any other flagellate algae, they contain phycobilins as accessory photosynthetic pigments, as do red algae and cyanobacteria.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘It is a fundamental metabolic pathway needed for biosynthesis of cytochromes, chlorophylls, phycobilins, and the corrin nucleus of vitamin B 12.’
  • ‘A second group, the Dinophysis species, have plastids containing phycobilins and chlorophyll a + c.’
  • ‘Rhodophytes, like glaucophytes, lack chlorophyll b but carry a complement of phycobilins arranged in phycobilisomes on unstacked thylakoids.’
  • ‘The picture at the right shows the two classes of phycobilins which may be extracted from these ‘algae’.’