Firefly bioluminescence system

Today, bioluminescence reactions are used as indispensable analytical tools in various fields of science and technology. For example, the firefly bioluminescence system is universally used as a method of measuring ATP (adenosine triphosphate), a vital substance in living cells Ca2+-sensitive photoproteins, such as aequorin from a jellyfish, are widely utilized in monitoring the intracellular Ca2+ that regulates various important biological processes and certain analogues... 

Another variant of PP2A assay is the one reported by Isobe et al. [166] where a firefly bioluminescence system is used for the detection of protein phosphatase 2A inhibitors, in which luciferin phosphate is hydrolyzed to luciferin and inorganic phosphate by protein phosphatase 2A. The recent commercial availability of the phosphatase enzymes, which obviates the need to isolate them from animal tissues, also makes this approach very attractive. However, not all microcystins variants react with protein phosphatase enzymes to a similar extent [161,163] and the assay is sensitive to protein phosphatase inhibitors other than microcystins, such as okadaic acid, tautomycin, and calyculin A. In addition, the cyanobacterial sample itself may contain phosphatase activity that masks the presence of toxins [160]. As a consequence, the lack of specificity of the protein phosphatase inhibition assays requires that additional confirmatory analytical methods be employed for specific analysis of cyanobacterial toxins. 

However, the linear bond cleavage hypothesis of the firefly bioluminescence was made invalid in 1977. It was clearly shown by Shimomura et al. (1977) that one O atom of the CO2 produced is derived from molecular oxygen, not from the solvent water, using the same 180-labeling technique as used by DeLuca and Dempsey. The result was verified by Wannlund et al. (1978). Thus it was confirmed that the firefly bioluminescence reaction involves the dioxetanone pathway. Incidentally, there is currently no known bioluminescence system that involves a splitting of CO2 by the linear bond cleavage mechanism. 

The bioluminescence systems of Phengodidae (railroad worms) and Elateroidae (click beetles) are basically identical to that of Lampyridae (fireflies), requiring firefly luciferin, ATP, Mg2+ and a luciferase for light emission. However, there seem to be some differences. Viviani and Bechara (1995) reported that the spectra of the luminescence reactions measured with the luciferases of Brazilian fireflies (6 species) shift from the yellow-green range to the red range with lowering of the pH of the medium, like in the case of the Photinus pyralis luciferase (see Section 1.1.5), whereas the spectra... 

The order Diptera (flies) contains the glow-worms Arachnocampa and Orfelia. The bioluminescence systems of dipterans do not utilize firefly luciferin in their light-emitting reactions, differing from the bioluminescence systems of coleopterans. In dipterans, it is extremely intriguing that the bioluminescence system of Arachnocampa appears different from that of Orfelia-. the former luminescence is activated by ATP, whereas the latter luminescence is stimulated by DTT but not by ATP. 

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. 

The enol-sulfate form (I), which is the precursor of the luciferin in the bioluminescence system of the sea pansy Renilla (Hori et al., 1972), can be readily converted into coelenterazine by acid hydrolysis. The enol-sulfate (I), dehydrocoeienterazine (D) and the coelenterazine bound by the coelenterazine-binding proteins are important storage forms for preserving unstable coelenterazine in the bodies of luminous organisms. The disulfate form of coelenterazine (not shown in Fig. 5.5) is the luciferin in the firefly squid Watasenia (Section 6.3.1). An enol-ether form of coelenterazine bound with glucopyra-nosiduronic acid has been found in the liver of the myctophid fish Diapbus elucens (Inoue et al., 1987). 

G andelman, O. A., Brovko, L. U., Ugarova, N. N., and Shchegolev, A. A. (1990). The bioluminescence system of firefly. A fluorescence spectroscopy study of the interaction of the reaction product, oxy-luciferin, and its analogs with luciferase. Biokhimiya 55 1052-1058. 

The chapters in this book are arranged roughly in the chronological order of bioluminescence systems discovered, based on the date of the major breakthrough made in each bioluminescence system, such as the discovery of ATP in the firefly system (McElroy, 1947) and the identification of fatty aldehyde as the luciferin in luminous bacteria (Cormier and Strehler, 1953). This differs from Harvey s 1952 book, which is arranged in the order of taxonomic classification. 

Bioluminescence serves as an excellent reporter system as a sensitive marker for microbial detection, as a real-time, non-invasive reporter for measuring gene expression and as a measure of intracellular biochemical function (cell viability). Most widely studied of the bioluminescence systems are those belonging to the luminous bacteria Vibrio sp.. Photobacterium sp. and Photorhabdus luminescens) and the firefly Photinus pyralis). While these systems have proved extremely versatile, there are caveats to their use limiting the array of applications they can be applied to. These caveats mainly surround the nature of the luciferase enzymes, and include temperature and pH stability. 

Earlier, we found that heavy-atom effect can also be observed in bioluminescent systems 3,4 bioluminescence inhibition coefficients were found to decrease in the series potassium halides KC1, KBr, and KI. Two mechanisms can be responsible for the change of the intensity of bioiuminescence in the presence of heavy ions the physicochemical effect of external heavy atom mentioned above, and the biochemical effect, i.e. interactions with the enzymes resulting in changes in enzymatic activity. A series of model experiments was conducted to evaluate the contribution of the physicochemical mechanism. These involved the photoexcitation of model fluorescent compounds close to bioiuminescence emitters in chemical nature and fluorescent properties - flavin mononucleotide, firefly luciferin and coelenteramide. These results are clear evidence of the smaller contribution of the physicochemical mechanism to the decrease in the bioiuminescence intensity for the three bioluminescent systems under study.4... 

If luminescence is a result of a biochemical reaction, the principle is called bioluminescence. The most frequently used bioluminescence system is that of the firefly. The enzyme luciferase catalyses the oxidation of luciferin as a substrate in the presence of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (Scheme 7). Another bioluminescence system makes use of a luciferase from certain marine bacteria. A long-chain aldehyde is oxidized in the presence of luciferase, an oxido-reductase and NAD/NADH. Recently, a photoprotein isolated from the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria, has been found to be an efficient bioluminescence label for immunoassays. 

The emitting molecule, decarboxyketoludferin, has been isolated and synthesized. When it is excited photochemically by photon absorption in basic solution (pH > 7.5-8.0), it fluoresces, giving a fluorescence emission specfrum that is identical to the emission spectrum produced by the interaction of firefly luciferin and firefly luciferase. The emitting form of decarboxykefoluciferin has thus been identified as the enol dianion. In neutral or acidic solution, the emission spectrum of decarboxyketo-luciferin does not match the emission spectrum of the bioluminescent system. 

Although numerous luminous organisms are known, only a few of them has been studied and really exploited. Analytical applications of bioluminescence concern mainly the detection of ATP with the firefly luciferase and of NADH with some marine bacteria systems. Luciferase from the North American firefly, i.e., Photinus pyralis, has been extensively studied10-12 and afterwards, attention has been paid to the luciferase from Luciola mingrelica, i.e., the North Caucasus firefly13 15. 

Brovko L.Y., Gandelman O.A., Polenova T.E., Ugarova N.N. Kinetics of bioluminescence in the firefly luciferin-luciferase system. Biochemistry (Russia) 1994 59(2) 195-201. 

B, bioluminescent bacterial system on nylon L, bioluminescent firefly system on nylon M, bioluminescent firefly system on methacrylate beads r-LM, recombinant firefly luciferase on methacrylate beads r-LN, recombinant firefly luciferase on nylon. 

A rapid, nondestructive method based on determination of the spatial distribution of ATP, as a potential bioindicator of microbial presence and activity on monuments, artworks, and other samples related to the cultural heritage, was developed [57], After cell lysis, ATP was detected using the bioluminescent firefly luciferin-luciferase system and the method was tested on different kinds of surfaces and matrices. Figure 3 reports the localization of biodeteriogen agents on a marble specimen. Sample geometry is a critical point especially when a quantitative analysis has to be performed however, the developed method showed that with opti-... 

In the method shown in Figure 9B, a firefly luciferase gene is introduced for sensitive bioluminescent detection of target DNA [5], The luciferase-coding DNA requires no posttranslational modification, and the activity of the luciferase produced can be readily measured in the transcription/translation mixture without prior purification. In this assay system, the digoxigenin-labeled probe is first immobilized to polystyrene wells coated with antidigoxigenin antibody. The target... 

The last type of CL discussed here is bioluminescence (BL). As the term suggests, BL is an enzyme-catalyzed process found in living organisms [164, 165]. In most BL reactions, luciferin is oxidized with molecular oxygen by lucifer-ase with ATP as a cofactor. In addition, the luciferase activity depends on Ca2+ or Mg2+. The analytically most often employed system is the firefly luciferase/ D-luciferin system shown in Fig. 26. Here, ATP is necessary to form the highly energetic AMP adduct required for further reaction sequence. Subsequent cleavage... 

Bioluminescence is the production of light by living systems. The best-known example of this phenomenon is the characteristic glow of the firefly, but other luminous species include bacteria, fungi and other animals such as jellyfish, scale-worms, deep-sea squid, prawn and fish. In animals bioluminescence is used as a diversionary tactic when disturbed, to attract prey and of course as a mating signal during courtship. 

Of the many types of bioluminescence in nature, that of the firefly represents the most thoroughly studied and best understood biological luminescent process. The molecular mechanism of light emission by the firefly was elucidated in the 1960s in which a dioxetanone (a-peroxy lactone) was proposed as an intermediate, formed by the luciferase-catalyzed enzymatic oxidation of the firefly luciferin with molecular oxygen (Scheme 15). This biological reaction constitutes one of the most efficient luminescent processes known to date . Hence, it is not surprising that the luciferin-luciferase system finds wide use... 

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