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Bioluminescence What is it? • Light as a result of a chemical reaction • Common examples: fireflies, anglerfish, mushrooms • Luminescent bacteria: basic luminescent organism to work with The Mechanism • Light produced by oxidation of luciferin catalyzed by luciferase in the presence of ATP • Luciferin, when oxidized, degrades to coelenteramide and releases energy in the form of a photon • Luciferin, luciferase general terms • Little to no heat loss Why use bioluminescence? • Aspects that make bioluminescence helpful to work with – Luciferase genes can be inserted into organisms – The reaction uses ATP, provides a useful gauge of ATP concentration – Produces light! What has been done? • Genes have been synthesized, inserted into mice, silkworms, potatoes, monkey cells • Luciferase gene modification – Gene contains 6 introns, all <60 bases – Has been modified to express 2x luciferase • http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=365129 • Detection of living Salmonella cells • http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19169891 • GloFish • Bioluminescent assays – Targets such as kinases, proteases, apoptosis – Detection of ATP allows analysis of cell metabolism and enzymatic processes • http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17355205 • Whole animal imaging – Different types of cells (bone marrow stem cells, T-cells) can express firefly luciferase – Allows imaging; can be used to track tumor development • • http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/21/7042 http://www.promega.com/pnotes/100/16620_22/16620_22.pdf Ideas From Wikipedia Crazy • Solar-powered light sources – Plants already create ATP from photosynthesis – Could use ATP for luminescence at night • Applications include city lighting, nightlights & Christmas lights, art • Living houses? Fab tree hab? Interesting • Modify bacteria to monitor chemical levels – Bioluminescent bacteria (e.coli) modified to be selective towards certain toxins – Luminometer returns toxin levels – Useful for environmental toxin monitoring Interesting • Detect presence of certain chemicals (harmful, maybe pollutants?) – Insert luciferase gene into an organism that thrives under and indicates certain conditions (ie algae and phosphorus?) Safe • Luminescent bacteria tags – Insert luciferase gene into symbiotic bacteria that can live in certain organisms – Uses: track pests, non-native species, etc. Safe • Life-spanned messages/patterns/pictures – Grow luminescent cells/bacteria on a plate – Will only grow/glow as long as they have nutrients – Will lose luminescence when nutrients run out