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Review
. 2019 Aug;65(4):877-882.
doi: 10.1007/s00294-019-00951-5. Epub 2019 Mar 8.

A brief review of bioluminescent systems (2019)

Aubin Fleiss  1   2 , Karen S Sarkisyan  3   4   5   6
Affiliations
Review

A brief review of bioluminescent systems (2019)

Aubin Fleiss et al. Curr Genet. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Despite being widely used in reporter technologies, bioluminescent systems are largely understudied. Of at least forty different bioluminescent systems thought to exist in nature, molecular components of only seven light-emitting reactions are known, and the full biochemical pathway leading to light emission is only understood for two of them. Here, we provide a succinct overview of currently known bioluminescent systems highlighting available tools for research and discussing future applications.

Keywords: Bioluminescence; Imaging; Luciferase; Luciferin; Synthetic biology.

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Conflict of interest statement

KSS is a co-founder of Planta, a company aimed to commercialize fungal bioluminescent system.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structure of luciferins from bioluminescent systems with known luciferases
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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