Download Protein Folding?

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