Luciferins cypridina

Properties of luciferin. The crystals are microscopic needles, which melt with decomposition at 205-210°C (Bitler and McElroy, 1957). It is a quite stable luciferin compared with some other luciferins, such as Cypridina luciferin and the luciferins of krill and dinoflagellates. It is not significantly affected by lOmM H2SO4 and lOmM NaOH at room temperature in air. The absorption spectral data of luciferin are shown in Fig. 1.3 (McElroy and Seliger, 1961). The molar absorption coefficient of the 328 nm peak in acidic solutions and that of the 384 nm peak in basic solutions are both 18,200 (Morton et al., 1969). Luciferin is fluorescent, showing an emission maximum at 537 nm in both acidic and basic conditions, although the intensity of the fluorescence is lower in acidic solution than in basic solution (fluorescence quantum yields 0.62 in basic condition, and 0.25 in acidic condition Morton et al., 1969). The chemical synthesis... 

Fig. 1.14 Relationship between the incorporation of 180 into product CO2 and the amount of luciferin used, in the bioluminescence reaction of Cypridina luciferin catalyzed by Cypridina luciferase. The reactions were carried out in H2160 medium with 1802 gas (solid line) in H2lsO medium with 16C>2 gas (dashed line) and the control experiment of the latter using C16C>2 gas instead of luciferin and luciferase (dotted line), all in 20 mM glycylglycine buffer, pH 7.8, containing 40 mM NaCl. From Shimomura and Johnson, 1973a. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier.

In this book, the classification of ostracods by Muller is used the genus names by the Poulsen classification are cited in parentheses only when appropriate. The author protests against the irresponsible shuffling of scientific names, and hopes for the revival of the Muller classification. In addition, the author believes that Cypridina luciferin is the proper name of this substance that is not necessarily bound to the genus name. 

Fig. 3.1.2 The apparatus used in 1956 for the methanol extraction of Cypridina luciferin. The dried Cypridina (500 g) is extracted at a temperature lower than 40°C with refluxing methanol under reduced pressure for two days. The atmosphere inside the apparatus is completely replaced with hydrogen gas that was purified by its passing through a quartz tube containing red-heated copper fragments. The temperature of the mantle heater is adjusted, the system evacuated, and then all stopcocks are closed. The extraction with refluxing methanol continues for many hours without any further adjustment. From the author s 1957 notebook.

Improved purification method of Cypridina luciferin. The purification of Cypridina luciferin became remarkably simple and easy after some of the properties of this substance were known. The following method was used to obtain the large quantity of luciferin needed for the study of its chemical structure. The method consists of three steps and takes less than eight hours to obtain crystallized luciferin. 

Chemical structure. The structure of the free base of Cypridina luciferin (C22H27ON7, Mr 405.50) was determined by Kishi et al. (1966a,b) as shown below (A) its sec-butyl group is in the same configuration as in L-isoleucine. The structure of oxyluciferin reported by the same authors contained an error, and the structure was corrected later as shown in Fig. 3.1.8 (McCapra and Chang, 1967 Stone, 1968). 

Thus, oxyluciferin has a molecular formula of C21H27ON72HCI. The total synthesis of Cypridina luciferin has been accomplished (Kishi et al., 1966c Inoue et al., 1969 Karpetsky and White, 1971 Nakamura et al., 2000). 

Properties. Cypridina luciferin is soluble in water, methanol and other alcoholic solvents, but not in most aprotic solvents. The ultraviolet absorption spectra of luciferin and oxyluciferin are shown in Fig. 3.1.3. Luciferin in neutral solutions is yellow (lmax 432 nm ... 

Fig. 3.1.3 Absorption spectra of Cypridina luciferin dihydrobromide (70 pM) in methanol (A), after addition of 1% volume of IN HCl (B), and oxyluciferin dihydrochloride (43 pM) in methanol (C).

Chemiluminescence. Cypridina luciferin emits light in various organic solvents in the presence or absence of a base. The most efficient... 

It should be noted that Cypridina luciferin emits a fairly strong chemiluminescence in aqueous solutions in the presence of various lipids and surfactants, even in the complete absence of luciferase. The luminescence is especially conspicuous with cationic surfactants (such as hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide) and certain emulsion materials (such as egg yolk and mayonnaise). Certain metal ions (especially Fe2+) and peroxides can also cause luminescence of the luciferin. Therefore, great care must be taken in the detection of Cypridina luciferase in biological samples with Cypridina luciferin. 

Reaction rate. The luminescence reaction of Cypridina luciferin catalyzed by Cypridina luciferase normally follows the first-order... 

Fig. 3.1.4 Bioluminescence spectrum of Cypridina luciferin catalyzed by Cypridina luciferase (A), the fluorescence excitation spectrum of oxyluciferin in the presence of luciferase (B), the fluorescence emission spectrum of the same solution as B (C), and the absorption spectrum of oxyluciferin (D). The fluorescence of oxyluciferin alone and luciferase alone are negligibly weak. Measurement conditions A, luciferin (lpg/ml) plus a trace amount of luciferase in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 0.2 M NaCl B and C, oxyluciferin (20 pM) plus luciferase (0.2mg/ml) in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 0.2 M NaCl D, oxyluciferin (41 pM) in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.6, containing 0.2 M NaCl. All are at 20°C.

Fig. 3.1.5 Effects of salt concentration on the activity of Cypridina luciferase (solid lines) and quantum yield (dotted lines). In the activity measurement, Cypridina luciferin (1 pg/ml) was luminesced with a trace amount of luciferase in 2.5 mM HEPES buffer, pH 7.5, containing a salt to be tested, at 20°C. In the measurement of quantum yield, luciferin (1 pg/ml) was luminesced with luciferase (20 pg/ml) in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (for the NaCl data) or MES buffer (for the CaCl2 data), pH 6.7.

Fig. 3.1.7 Effects of temperature on the activity of Cypridina luciferase (solid line) and the quantum yield of Cypridina luciferin (dashed line). Luciferin (1 pg/ml) was luminesced in the presence of luciferase (a trace amount for the activity measurement 20 pg/ml for the quantum yield) in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.8, containing 0.1 M NaCl.

Side reaction. The luminescence reaction of Cypridina luciferin catalyzed by luciferase involves a side reaction (Fig. 3.1.8). In the luminescence reaction, 85-90% of luciferin is converted into oxyluciferin and CO2 accompanied by light emission, whereas 10-15% of luciferin is converted directly into etioluciferin plus a keto-acid without light emission (Shimomura and Johnson, 1971). In the chemiluminescence reactions of Cypridina luciferin in organic solvents (such as diglyme, acetone, pyridine and DMSO), the proportion of the dark side reaction... 

Fig. 3.1.8 A diagram showing the reactions involved in the luciferase-catalyzed luminescence of Cypridina luciferin.

Johnson et al. (1962) measured the quantum yield of Cypridina luciferin in the luciferase-catalyzed reaction for the first time, using a photomultiplier calibrated with two kinds of standard lamps. The measurement gave a value of 0.28 0.04 at 4°C in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.5, containing 0.3 M NaCl. The quantum yield... 

Table 3.1 Quantum Yields of Cypridina Luciferin in Bioluminescence and...

One is the concerted decomposition of a dioxetanone structure that is proposed for the chemiluminescence and bioluminescence of both firefly luciferin (Hopkins et al., 1967 McCapra et al., 1968 Shimomura et al., 1977) and Cypridina luciferin (McCapra and Chang, 1967 Shimomura and Johnson, 1971). The other is the linear decomposition mechanism that has been proposed for the bioluminescence reaction of fireflies by DeLuca and Dempsey (1970), but not substantiated. In the case of the Oplopborus bioluminescence, investigation of the reaction pathway by 180-labeling experiments has shown that one O atom of the product CO2 derives from molecular oxygen, indicating that the dioxetanone pathway takes place in this bioluminescence system as well (Shimomura et al., 1978). It appears that the involvement of a dioxetane intermediate is quite widespread in bioluminescence. 

Coelenteramide and coelenterazine. The structure of AF-350 contains the same aminopyrazine skeleton as in Cypridina etioluciferin and oxyluciferin (Fig. 3.1.8), suggesting that the bioluminescence reaction of aequorin might resemble that of Cypridina luciferin. To investigate such a possibility, we prepared the reaction product of aequorin luminescence by adding Ca2+ to a solution of aequorin. The product solution (blue fluorescent) was made acidic, and extracted with... 

Coastal and Shallow-water Fishes that Utilize Cypridina Luciferin... 

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