Team:Cambridge/Bioluminescence/Bacterial Luciferases
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{{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/headerbar|colour=#fb5c2b|title=Bioluminescence: Bacterial Luciferases}} | {{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/headerbar|colour=#fb5c2b|title=Bioluminescence: Bacterial Luciferases}} | ||
{{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/RightImage|image=Cambridge-Photobacterium_plate.JPG|caption=One of the plates of <i>V. phosphoreum</i> we prepared.}} | {{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/RightImage|image=Cambridge-Photobacterium_plate.JPG|caption=One of the plates of <i>V. phosphoreum</i> we prepared.}} | ||
+ | '''Project Vibrio''' was designed to complement Project Firefly, by using bacterial lux operons to achieve some things that were not possible with firefly luciferase. | ||
+ | * Substrate production in E. coli, avoiding the need to add luciferin | ||
+ | * Emission of blue light | ||
+ | |||
==Pathway== | ==Pathway== | ||
Bacterial lux operons emit light using five enzymes: | Bacterial lux operons emit light using five enzymes: |
Revision as of 13:08, 21 October 2010
Bioluminescence: Bacterial Luciferases
Project Vibrio was designed to complement Project Firefly, by using bacterial lux operons to achieve some things that were not possible with firefly luciferase.
- Substrate production in E. coli, avoiding the need to add luciferin
- Emission of blue light
Pathway
Bacterial lux operons emit light using five enzymes:
- luxA and luxB form the luciferase part of the system, they emit light using the substrate tetradecanal
- luxC, luxD and luxE are involved in the biosynthesis of tetradecanal from readily available substrates
Bioluminescent species
The Cambridge team is looking into these bacterial luciferases:
- Vibrio fischeri forms symbioses with squid to prevent the squid from casting a shadow on moonlit nights. Due to this their lux proteins are non-functional above 30 degrees
- Vibrio (formerly Photobacterium) phosphoreum emits a very blue light, perhaps partly through its use of lumazine