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The Chemistry of Bioluminescence: An Analysis of Chemical Functionalities
Author(s) -
Navizet Isabelle,
Liu YaJun,
Ferré Nicolas,
RocaSanjuán Daniel,
Lindh Roland
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201100504
Subject(s) - bioluminescence , luciferase , chemistry , luciferases , luciferin , substrate (aquarium) , hydrogen peroxide , enzyme , firefly protocol , combinatorial chemistry , biophysics , biochemistry , biology , transfection , gene , ecology , zoology
Firefly luciferase is one of the most studied bioluminescent systems, both theoretically and experimentally. Herein we review the current understanding of the bioluminescent process from a chemical functionality perspective based on those investigations. Three key components are emphasized: the chemiluminophore, the electron‐donating fragment, and how these are affected by the substrate–enzyme interaction. The understanding is based on details of how the peroxide OO bond supports the production of electronically excited products and how the charge‐transfer (CT) mechanism, with the aid of an electron‐donating group, lowers the activation barrier to support a reaction occurs in living organisms. For the substrate–enzyme complex it is demonstrated that the enzyme can affect the hydrogen‐bonding around the CT‐controlling group, resulting in a mechanism for color modulation. Finally, we analyse other luciferin–luciferase systems and compare them to the key chemical functionalities of the fragments of the luciferin–luciferase complex with respect to similarities and differences.