Luciferase gene of a Caribbean fireworm (Syllidae) from Puerto Rico
Luciferase gene of a Caribbean fireworm (Syllidae) from Puerto Rico
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-019-49538-7
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发表时间：
2019-09-10
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Ohmiya, Yoshihiro
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Mitani, Yasuo;Yasuno, Rie;Ohmiya, Yoshihiro
火虫odontosilis spp.分布于全球，以其独特而迷人的交配行为而闻名，分泌的粘液会发出蓝绿色的光。然而，关于参与光发射的分子的知识仍然很少。萤火虫被认为是通过荧光素和荧光素酶的反应而发光的，但荧光素酶的生化证据只在日本的一种萤火虫身上得到证实，而且没有关于其荧光素结构的信息。在这项研究中，我们从一个相关的波多黎各萤火虫中鉴定了一个荧光素酶基因。我们在该波多黎各萤火虫中鉴定了8个荧光素酶样基因，发现日本和波多黎各荧光素酶样基因之间的氨基酸同源性小于60%。我们证实了日本萤火虫荧光素提取物与重组波多黎各荧光素酶（PR1）的交叉反应性。重组PR1的发射光谱与天然荧光素酶的粗提取物相似，表明PR1是该波多黎各萤火虫的功能性荧光素酶。我们的研究结果表明，萤火虫发光的分子机制是广泛保守的。
The fireworms Odontosyllis spp. are globally distributed and well-known for their characteristic and fascinating mating behavior, with secreted mucus emitting bluish-green light. However, knowledge about the molecules involved in the light emission are still scarce. The fireworms are believed to emit light with a luciferin-luciferase reaction, but biochemical evidence of the luciferase is established for only one species living in Japan and no information is available for its luciferin structure. In this study, we identified a luciferase gene from a related Puerto Rican fireworm. We identified eight luciferase-like genes in this Puerto Rican fireworm, finding amino acid identities between Japanese and Puerto Rican luciferase-like genes to be less than 60%. We confirmed cross reactivity of extracts of the Japanese fireworm luciferin with a recombinant Puerto Rican luciferase (PR1). The emission spectrum of recombinant PR1 was similar to the crude extract of the native luciferase, suggesting that PR1 is a functional luciferase of this Puerto Rican fireworm. Our results indicate that the molecular mechanism of luminescence is widely conserved among fireworms.