Premium
The Chemical Basis of Fungal Bioluminescence
Author(s) -
Purtov Konstantin V.,
Petushkov Valentin N.,
Baranov Mikhail S.,
Mineev Konstantin S.,
Rodionova Natalja S.,
Kaskova Zinaida M.,
Tsarkova Aleksandra S.,
Petunin Alexei I.,
Bondar Vladimir S.,
Rodicheva Emma K.,
Medvedeva Svetlana E.,
Oba Yuichi,
Oba Yumiko,
Arseniev Alexander S.,
Lukyanov Sergey,
Gitelson Josef I.,
Yampolsky Ilia V.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201501779
Subject(s) - bioluminescence , luciferin , photoprotein , biology , chemistry , metabolite , biochemistry , luciferase , microbiology and biotechnology , transfection , gene
Many species of fungi naturally produce light, a phenomenon known as bioluminescence, however, the fungal substrates used in the chemical reactions that produce light have not been reported. We identified the fungal compound luciferin 3‐hydroxyhispidin, which is biosynthesized by oxidation of the precursor hispidin, a known fungal and plant secondary metabolite. The fungal luciferin does not share structural similarity with the other eight known luciferins. Furthermore, it was shown that 3‐hydroxyhispidin leads to bioluminescence in extracts from four diverse genera of luminous fungi, thus suggesting a common biochemical mechanism for fungal bioluminescence.