Tag: BIOLUMINESCENCE
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Railroad worms, glowworm beetles and apple maggots
Railroad worm Phengodidae Phrixothrix Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Phengodidae Genus: PhrixothrixOlivier, 1909 Species (several) A railroad worm is a larva or larviform female adult of a beetle of the genus Phrixothrix in the family Phengodidae, characterized by the possession of two different colors of bioluminescence. It has the appearance of a caterpillar. The eleven pairs of luminescent organs on their second…
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Aliivibrio fischeri (aka Vibrio fischeri), a bioluminescent bacteria and a glowing squid
Aliivibrio fischeri (also called Vibrio fischeri) is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium found globally in marine environments. This species has bioluminescent properties, and is found predominantly in symbiosis with various marine animals, such as the Hawaiian bobtail squid. It is heterotrophic, oxidase-positive, and motile by means of a single polar flagella. Free-living A. fischeri cells survive on decaying organic matter. The bacterium is a key research organism for examination of microbial bioluminescence, quorum sensing, and bacterial-animal symbiosis. It is named…
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Green fluorescent protein (GFP)
The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to light in the blue to ultraviolet range. Prendergast FG, Mann KG (Aug 1978). “Chemical and physical properties of aequorin and the green fluorescent protein isolated from Aequorea forskålea”. Biochemistry. 17 (17): 3448–53. doi:10.1021/bi00610a004. PMID 28749. Tsien RY (1998). “The green fluorescent protein” (PDF). Annual Review of Biochemistry. 67: 509–44. doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.67.1.509. PMID 9759496 The label GFP traditionally refers to the protein first isolated…
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Kaede (protein)
Kaede is a photoactivatable fluorescent protein naturally originated from a stony coral, Trachyphyllia geoffroyi. Its name means “maple” in Japanese. With the irradiation of ultraviolet light (350–400 nm), Kaede undergoes irreversible photoconversion from green fluorescence to red fluorescence. Kaede is a homotetrameric protein with the size of 116 kDa. The tetrameric structure was deduced as its primary structure is only 28 kDa. This tetramerization possibly makes Kaede have a low tendency to…