phycochrome

P3H4Y4C3O1C3H4R1O1M3E1

noun

A bluish-green pigment in certain blue-green algae.

Scrabble 28

Meanings

nounphycochrome (countable and uncountable, plural phycochromes)

plural phycochromes

  1. countableuncountablebiologyA bluish-green pigment in certain blue-green algae.

    Ohad et al. (1980) have recently shown that allophycocyanin has identical photoresponses to the phycochromes, which suggests that allophycocyanin may be the true identity of the phycochromes.

    2012, O. L. Lange, Physiological Plant Ecology I, page 264
    2 more examples

    The purple-red or violet phycochromaceze contain phycochrome, which is composed of chlorophyll and a purple, but generally (not apparently different) blue modification of phycocyan, which easily turns into a verdigris-coloured substance.

    1867, The Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London, page 210

    It is quite possible that the writer has reckoned some of the filamentous species of the Schizomycetes under the head of Phormidium tenuissimum, since it is impossible to determine with certainty in all cases whether a filament less than one micromillimeter in thickness, contains phycochrome or not.

    2012, T.D. Brock, Thermophilic Microorganisms and Life at High Temperatures, page 49

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

phycochrome. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phycochrome

MLA

“phycochrome.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phycochrome. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phycochrome,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phycochrome.

Source: phycochrome on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.