cyanophycin, n. Biochem.
(ˌsaɪənəʊˈfaɪsɪn)
[a. It. cianoficina (A. Borzi 1886, in Malpighia I. 79): cf. cyano-, phycic a., -in1.]
A polypeptide present in the form of food storage granules in most cyanobacteria.
| 1896 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXXVIII. 263 The granules he looks upon as crystals belonging to the regular system, and composed of a substance ‘cyanophycin’, which..he regards as related to the chromatin and pyrenin of highly specialised vegetable cells. 1965 Biol. Rev. XL. 157 The characteristic storage product in blue-green algae is represented by large cyanophycin granules. 1983 S. Holmes Outl. Plant Classification (1986) iv. 22 Food reserves include a special starch, cyanophycean or myxophycean starch, and a protein, cyanophycin. |