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. 2021 Jan;20(1):113-122.
doi: 10.1007/s43630-020-00007-5. Epub 2021 Jan 19.

Influence of the C-terminal domain on the bioluminescence activity and color determination in green and red emitting beetle luciferases and luciferase-like enzyme

V R Bevilaqua  1 , Mariele C Carvalho  1 , Gabriel F Pelentir  2 , Atílio Tomazini  3 , Mario Murakami  3 , Vadim R Viviani  4   5   6
Affiliations

Influence of the C-terminal domain on the bioluminescence activity and color determination in green and red emitting beetle luciferases and luciferase-like enzyme

V R Bevilaqua et al. Photochem Photobiol Sci. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Beetle luciferases catalyze the bioluminescent oxidation of D-luciferin, producing bioluminescence colors ranging from green to red, using two catalytic steps: adenylation of D-luciferin to produce D-luciferyl-adenylate and PPi, and oxidation of D-luciferyl-adenylate, yielding AMP, CO2, and excited oxyluciferin, the emitter. Luciferases and CoA-ligases display a similar fold, with a large N-terminal domain, and a small C-terminal domain which undergoes rotation, closing the active site and promoting both adenylation and oxidative reactions. The effect of C-terminal domain deletion was already investigated for Photinus pyralis firefly luciferase, resulting in a red-emitting mutant with severely impacted luminescence activity. However, the contribution of C-terminal in the bioluminescence activities and colors of other beetle luciferases and related ancestral luciferases were not investigated yet. Here we compared the effects of the C-terminal domain deletion on green-emitting luciferases of Pyrearinus termitilluminans (Pte) click beetle and Phrixothrix vivianii railroadworm, and on the red-emitting luciferase of Phrixothrix hirtus railroadworm and luciferase-like enzyme of Zophobas morio. In all cases, the domain deletion severely impacted the overall bioluminescence activities and, slightly less, the oxidative activities, and usually red-shifted the bioluminescence colors. The results support the involvement of the C-terminal in shielding the active site from the solvent during the light emitting step. However, in Pte luciferase, the deletion caused only a 10 nm red-shift, indicating a distinctive active site which remains more shielded, independently of the C'-terminal. Altogether, the results confirm the main contribution of the C-terminal for the catalysis of the adenylation reaction and for active site shielding during the light emitting step.

Keywords: Bioluminescence; C-terminal; CoA-ligases; Luciferases.

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