Studying the impact of phycoerythrin on antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the fresh rainbow trout fillets

Marine cyanobacteria present a significant potential source of new bioactive compounds with vast structural diversity and relevant antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Phycobiliproteins (PBPs) like phycocyanin (PC), phycoerythrin (PE), and water-soluble cyanobacterial photosynthetic pigments, have exhibited strong pharmacological activities and been used as natural food additives. In this study, phycoerythrin (PE) isolated from a marine strain of cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. Ft salt, was applied for the first time as a natural antimicrobial as well as an antioxidant to increase the shelf life of fresh rainbow trout i.e., (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillets. Fresh trout fillets were marinated in analytical grade PE (3.9 μg/mL) prepared in citric acid (4 mg/mL), and stored at 4 °C and 8 °C for 21 days. Microbiological analysis, antioxidant activity and organoleptic evaluation of both control and treated fish fillets were then statistically compared. The results demonstrated noticeable (P < 0.05) differences in the microbial counts, antioxidant activity, and organoleptic characteristic values between PE-treated and non-treated groups. In addition, we observed that treating fresh fish fillets with a PE solution leads to a significant increase in shelf life by at least 14 days. Consequently, PE could be an alternative to synthetic chemical additives since it does not contain the potentially dangerous residues of the synthetic chemical additives and is thus healthier to the consumers.