Firefly reaction

The theoretical yield is approached by the firefly reaction, discussed later, which is reported to have of 88% (5). In practice, however, most chemiluminescent reactions are inefficient, withQc values on the order of 1% or much less. The factors influencing yields can be discussed in terms of a generalized three-step chemiluminescent mechanism (6) ... 

High quantum yields are uncommon and, moreover, the quantum yield almost always decreases as the concentration of chemiluminescent reactant approaches practical levels. Thus even reactions with high inherent quantum yields at low concentrations, such as the firefly reaction, do not necessarily provide high light capacities (237). 

A familiar example of chemiluminescence is the light emitted by a firefly. In the firefly reaction, an enzyme, luciferase, catalyzes the oxidative phosphorylation reaction of luciferin with adenosine triphosphate to produce oxyluciferin, carbon dioxide, adenosine monophosphate, and light. Chemiluminescence involving a biological or enzyme reaction is often termed bioluminescence. The popular light stick is another familiar example of chemiluminescence. 

Biotinylated antibodies can via streptavidin be linked to biotinylated enzymes, e.g. firefly luciferase or an ATP producing enzyme like acetate kinase. A genetically fused biotinylated thermostable recombinant luciferase can be detected below attomol levels and is used in a kit for the detection of 10 cfu/mL of Staphylococcus aureus. In another kit coliforms are detected by their P-galactosidase activity using D-luciferin-O-P-galactopyranoside and the firefly reaction. ... 

The sensitivity and versatility of bioluminescent reactions has led to a wide range of applications (Table 3). Three bioluminescent reactions, firefly luciferase, marine bacterial luciferase, and the aequorin reaction, dominate and account for more than 90% of the applications. The versatility of bioluminescent reactions stems from the dependence of the reactions on key substances such as ATP (firefly reaction), NAD/NADH (marine bacterial reaction), and metal ions such as calcium (aequorin), and the fact that ATP and NAD can in turn be coupled to kinases and dehydrogenases to measure either the enzyme or its substrate. 

Of all the applications of bioluminescence, that of the firefly reaction is by far the most important. 

Later, fireflv oxyluciferin was successfully synthesi2ed (403. 408) and has been isolated and identified in firefly lanterns (luciola cruaciata) after the lanterns were treated with pyridine and acetic anhydride to prevent decomposition (409). In 1972, Suzuki and Goto firmly established that oxyluciferin is involved in the bioluminescence of firefly lanterns and in the chemiluminescence of firefly luciferin (403. 410).. A. mechanism involving a four-membered ring cyclic peroxide has been proposed for the reaction (406. 411). However, it was not confirmed by 0 -labelinE experiments (412). 

Firefly. Firefly luciferase (EC 1.13.12.7) is a homodimeric enzyme (62 kDa subunit) that has binding sites for firefly luciferin and Mg ATP . Amino acid sequence analysis has iadicated that beetle luciferases evolved from coen2yme A synthetase (206). Firefly bioluminescence is the most efficient bioluminescent reaction known, with Qc reported to be 88% (5), and at 562 nm (56). At low pH and ia the presence of certain metal ions (eg, Pb ", ... 

ImmunO lSS iy. Chemiluminescence compounds (eg, acridinium esters and sulfonamides, isoluminol), luciferases (eg, firefly, marine bacterial, Benilla and Varela luciferase), photoproteins (eg, aequorin, Benilld), and components of bioluminescence reactions have been tested as replacements for radioactive labels in both competitive and sandwich-type immunoassays. Acridinium ester labels are used extensively in routine clinical immunoassay analysis designed to detect a wide range of hormones, cancer markers, specific antibodies, specific proteins, and therapeutic dmgs. An acridinium ester label produces a flash of light when it reacts with an alkaline solution of hydrogen peroxide. The detection limit for the label is 0.5 amol. 

Bioluminescence in vitro chemosensitivity assays are now used to assess the sensitivity of tumor cells (obtained by surgical or needle biopsy) to different dmgs and combinations of dmgs. Cells are grown in microwell plates in the presence of the dmgs at various concentrations. If the tumor cells are sensitive to the dmg then they do not grow, hence total extracted cellular ATP, measured using the bioluminescence firefly luciferase reaction, is low. This method has been used to optimize therapy for different soHd tumors and for leukemias (306). 

Several other biosensors have been developed usiag this oxygen-quenched fluorescence approach. Target species iaclude ethanol [64-17-5] hydrogen peroxide [7722-84-17, H2O2, lactate, and xanthine [69-89-6] C H4N402, usiag alcohol oxidase, catalase [9001-05-2] lactate oxidase, and xanthine oxidase, respectively. An additional technique for biocatalytic biosensors iavolves the firefly chemiluminescent reaction (17) ... 

Methylisoquinolinium 2-carboxylate (230), originally prepared by Quast (70LA64), was recently identified as a defensive betaine from Photuris versicolor fireflies (99JNP378). It is a pseudo-cross-conjugated mesomeric betaine isoconjugate to the odd alternant hydrocarbon 2-isopropenyl-naphthalene anion which is an odd alternant hydrocarbon anion. This compound therefore is a member of class 13, which is very rare. The UV absorption maxima Imax (methanol) were found at 235 (4.35), 320 (shoulder, 3.97), and 326 (3.99) nm. This compound undergoes similar reactions as Homarine 19 (Scheme 75). The NMR data are presented in Table VIII. 

The fireflies, railroad worms, and click beetles use the same luciferin in their luminescence reactions. Recent studies on the railroad worms and the click beetles have greatly contributed to the biochemical understanding of the firefly bioluminescence (see Section 1.2). Concerning luminous Diptera, significant progress has been made only recently. 

The luciferin-luciferase reaction of fireflies was first demonstrated by Harvey (1917), although the light observed was weak and short-lasting. Thirty years after Harvey s discovery, McElroy (1947) made a crucial breakthrough in the study of firefly bioluminescence. He found that the light-emitting reaction requires ATP as a cofactor. The addition of ATP to the mixtures of luciferin and luciferase... 

The following schemes represent the overall reaction of firefly bioluminescence (McElroy and DeLuca, 1978), where E is luciferase LH2 is D-luciferin PP is pyrophosphate AMP is adenosine phosphate LH2-AMP is D-luciferyl adenylate (an anhydride formed between the carboxyl group of luciferin and the phosphate group of AMP) and L is oxyluciferin. 

The sharp flash in the firefly bioluminescence reaction (Fig. 1.6) is due to the formation of a strongly inhibitory byproduct in the reaction. The inhibitor formed is dehydroluciferyl adenylate, having the structure shown below at left. In the presence of coenzyme A (CoA), however, this inhibitory adenylate is converted into dehydroluciferyl-CoA, a compound only weakly inhibitory to luminescence. Thus, an addition of CoA in the reaction medium results in a long-lasting, high level of luminescence (Airth et al., 1958 McElroy and Seliger, 1966 Ford et al., 1995 Fontes et al., 1997, 1998). 

Fig. 1.12 Mechanism of the bioluminescence reaction of firefly luciferin catalyzed by firefly luciferase. Luciferin is probably in the dianion form when bound to luciferase. Luciferase-bound luciferin is converted into an adenylate in the presence of ATP and Mg2+, splitting off pyrophosphate (PP). The adenylate is oxygenated in the presence of oxygen (air) forming a peroxide intermediate A, which forms a dioxetanone intermediate B by splitting off AMP. The decomposition of intermediate B produces the excited state of oxyluciferin monoanion (Cl) or dianion (C2). When the energy levels of the excited states fall to the ground states, Cl and C2 emit red light (Amax 615 nm) and yellow-green light (Amax 560 nm), respectively.

This finding by Branchini et al. (2002) clearly indicates that 5,5-dimethyloxyluciferin is able to emit the two different colors. This conclusion, however, does not rule out the involvement of the enolized oxyluciferin in the bioluminescence reaction of firefly. 

Orlova et al. (2003) theoretically studied the mechanism of the firefly bioluminescence reaction on the basis of the hybrid density functional theory. According to their conclusion, changes in the color of light emission by rotating the two rings on the 2-2 axis is unlikely, whereas the participation of the enol-forms of oxyluciferin in bioluminescence is plausible but not essential to explain the multicolor emission. They predicted that the color of the bioluminescence depends on the polarization of the oxyluciferin molecule (at its OH and O-termini) in the microenvironment of the luciferase active site the... 

In the luminescence reaction of firefly luciferin (Fig. 1.12), one oxygen atom of the product CO2 is derived from the molecular oxygen while the other originates from the carboxyl group of luciferin. In the chemiluminescence reaction of an analogue of firefly luciferin in DMSO in the presence of a base, the analysis of the product CO2 has supported the dioxetanone pathway (White et al., 1975). 

Fig. 1.13 A mechanism of the decomposition of luciferin-4-peroxide in the firefly bioluminescence reaction proposed by DeLuca and Dempsey (1970), which involves a multiple linear bond cleavage.

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. 

Luminescence reaction (Viviani et al., 2002a) The luciferin-luciferase luminescence reaction was carried out in 0.1 M Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, containing 2mM ATP and 4mM Mg2+. Mixing luciferase with luciferin and ATP resulted in an emission of light with rapid onset and a kinetically complex decay. Further additions of fresh luciferase, after the luminescence has decayed to about 10% of its maximum value, resulted in additional luminescence responses similar to the initial one (Fig. 1.15). According to the authors, the repetitive light emission occurred in consequence of the inhibition of luciferase by a reaction product, as seen in the case of the firefly system (McElroy et al., 1953). The luminescence spectrum showed a peak at 487nm (Fig. 1.16). 

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