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Bioluminescence

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

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Bioluminescence

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  1. Bioluminescence

  2. What is it? • Light as a result of a chemical reaction • Common examples: fireflies, anglerfish, mushrooms • Luminescent bacteria: basic luminescent organism to work with

  3. 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

  4. 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!

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. Ideas From Wikipedia

  8. 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?

  9. 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

  10. 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?)

  11. Safe • Luminescent bacteria tags • Insert luciferase gene into symbiotic bacteria that can live in certain organisms • Uses: track pests, non-native species, etc.

  12. 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

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