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Imaging of light emission from the expression of luciferases in living cells and organisms: a review
Author(s) -
Greer Lee F.,
Szalay Aladar A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
luminescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.428
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1522-7243
pISSN - 1522-7235
DOI - 10.1002/bio.676
Subject(s) - luciferases , luciferase , photorhabdus luminescens , luciferin , bioluminescence , vibrio harveyi , biology , light emission , green fluorescent protein , lampyridae , aequorea victoria , gene expression , reporter gene , photobiology , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , bacteria , biochemistry , vibrio , botany , genetics , firefly protocol , transfection , zoology , physics , optoelectronics
Luciferases are enzymes that emit light in the presence of oxygen and a substrate (luciferin) and which have been used for real‐time, low‐light imaging of gene expression in cell cultures, individual cells, whole organisms, and transgenic organisms. Such luciferin–luciferase systems include, among others, the bacterial lux genes of terrestrial Photorhabdus luminescens and marine Vibrio harveyi bacteria, as well as eukaryotic luciferase luc and ruc genes from firefly species ( Photinus ) and the sea panzy ( Renilla reniformis ), respectively. In various vectors and in fusion constructs with other gene products such as green fluorescence protein (GFP; from the jellyfish Aequorea ), luciferases have served as reporters in a number of promoter search and targeted gene expression experiments over the last two decades. Luciferase imaging has also been used to trace bacterial and viral infection in vivo and to visualize the proliferation of tumour cells in animal models. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.