noun

• Any of a group of red photosynthetic pigments present in red algae and some cyanobacteria.

  ‘Red algae are red because of the presence of the pigment phycoerythrin; this pigment reflects red light and absorbs blue light.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Cells were washed with phosphate-buffered saline and incubated with Becton Dickinson cocktails of antibodies conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate, phycoerythrin, peridinin chlorophyll protein, or allophycocyanin.’
  • ‘However, not all ‘blue-green’ bacteria are blue; some common forms are red or pink from the pigment phycoerythrin.’
  • ‘The vial on the right contains the reddish pigment phycoerythrin, which gives the red algae their common name.’
  • ‘However, the induction of phycoerythrin under UV-B stress has also been reported.’