Bioluminescent protein

Blinks, J. R., and Harrer, G. C. (1975). Multiple forms of the calcium-sensitive bioluminescent protein aequorin. Fed. Proc. 34 474. 

Hastings, J. W., and Morin, J. G. (1968). Calcium activated bioluminescent protein from ctenophores (Mnemiopsis) and colonial hydroids (Obelia). Biol. Bull. 135 422. 

Johnson, F. H. (1970). The bioluminescence protein Aequorin . Naval Research Reviews February, pp. 16-23. 

Shimomura, O., Johnson, F. H., and Saiga, Y. (1962). Extraction, purification and properties of aequorin, a bioluminescent protein from... 

It was a common belief that all phenomena of bioluminescence were caused by the luciferin-luciferase reaction until the biolumines-cent protein aequorin was discovered in 1962 (Shimomura et al., 1962). When the terms luciferin and luciferase were found to be unsuitable for categorizing the two bioluminescent proteins, aequorin and another from the tubeworm Chaetopterus, a new term photoprotein was introduced to supplement the term luciferin (Shimomura and Johnson, 1966). Further explanations for the terms luciferin and photoprotein are given below. 

British scientists immobilized53 in a porous sol-gel glass aequorin - the bioluminescent protein found in the jellyfish Aequorea aequorea. The luminescence from this protein is specifically triggered by the presence of calcium ions. The intensity of the luminescence, measured at the peak... 

Aequorin Bioluminescent protein which emits light on binding Ca2+ (346) has been used as a fluorescent chelator to monitor Ca2+ concentrations. 

A novel genetically engineered B-cell-based sensor was developed to detect various pathogens relevant to food safety and biowarfare agents (Rider et ah, 2003). The B-cells were engineered to express cytosolic aequ-orin, a calcium-sensitive bioluminescent protein, and pathogen-specific... 

Aequorin is a Ca -sensitive, bioluminescent protein complex that was originally isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria [166]. The protein complex is assembled in the presence of molecular oxygen from the protein apoaequorin and its cofactor, the luminophore coelenterazine [167] (see Fig. 18). The binding of Ca ions induces a conformational change in the complex, resulting in the oxidation of coelenterazine and a subsequent emission of blue light in the wavelength... 

In 1966, we discovered in the tube worm Chaetopterus another unusual bioluminescent protein that did not fit in the luciferin-luciferase hypothesis. We proposed a general term "photoprotein" to designate these bioluminescent proteins. ... 

Shimomura O, Johnson F, Saiga Y. Extraction, Purification and properties of aequorin, a bioluminescent protein from the luminous hydromedusan, Aequorea. J Cell Comp Physiol 1962 59 223-39. 

The use of coloured indicators for non-coloured metals is well established, and the bioluminescent protein aequorin has proved a useful addition to the list of Ca +-sensitive indicators. Recently, the kinetics of several of the steps involved in the Ca +-aequorin interaction have been reported. ... 

Vidi, P., Watts, V. (2009). Fluorescent and bioluminescent protein-firagment complementation assays in the study of G protein-coupled receptor oligomerization and signaling. Molecular Pharmacology, 75, 733-739. 

In a reporter gene assay, CKR-mediated activation of transcription factors can be quantified. A plasmid encoding the CKR of interest is cotransfected with a plasmid encoding a reporter protein of which expression can easily be detected, such as firefly luciferase (Flue) (or another bioluminescent protein or enzyme such as Gaussia luciferase (Glue) or P-galactosidase). Luciferase transcription is controUed by an inducible promoter containing multiple response elements for a specific transcription factor. Hence, activation (or inhibition) of this transcription factor in response to CKR activation leads to the expression of luciferase (Fig. 15A). 

Table 3 Applications of bioluminescent proteins, photoproteins, and genes...

R499 M. S. Titushin, Y. Feng, J. Lee, E. S. Vysotski and Z.-J. Liu, Protein-Protein Complexation in Bioluminescence , Protein Cell, [online computer file], 2011, 2, 957. 

---