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    Mathematical Model of the Split Firefly Luciferase Assay
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    Abstract:
    The firefly luciferase complementation assay is widely used as a bioluminescent reporter technology to detect protein-protein interactions in vitro and in vivo. Firefly luciferase oxidates its substrate, luciferin, resulting in the emission of light. A previous study suggests that the firefly luciferase complementation assay has different luminescence kinetics from full length luciferase. The mechanism behind this is still unknown. Although half of the previously published studies utilizing the firefly luciferase complementation assay consider it quantitative. To understand how the molecular reactions and the changes in the affinity of the protein pair affect experimental results, a mathematical model was constructed. This suggests that previously published studies should be considered qualitative, unless an additional experiment is performed. This new model demonstrates that the luminescence measured is not linearly correlated with the affinity of the protein pair. The model is then used to design a new experiment which allows the firefly luciferase complementation assay to be used quantitatively to detect changes of affinity.
    Keywords:
    Protein-fragment complementation assay
    Luciferin
    Firefly Algorithm
    Luciferin
    Photoprotein
    Bioluminescence imaging
    Luciferases
    Light emission
    Citations (21)
    A selenium analogue of amino-D-luciferin, aminoseleno-D-luciferin, is synthesized and shown to be a competent substrate for the firefly luciferase enzyme. It has a red-shifted bioluminescence emission maximum at 600 nm (see scheme) and is suitable for bioluminescence imaging studies in living subjects.
    Luciferin
    Photoprotein
    Light emission
    Bioluminescence imaging
    Citations (115)
    Firefly bioluminescence, which produces high-efficiency light, is widely used in life science applications. For in vivo bioluminescence imaging, the near-infrared range (650–900 nm) is suitable because of its high permeability in deep biological tissues. In this study, we synthesized new luciferin analogues that emit light at 765 nm using Photinus pyralis luciferase. Firefly bioluminescence, which produces high-efficiency light, is widely used in life science applications. For in vivo bioluminescence imaging, the near-infrared range (650–900 nm) is suitable because of its high permeability in deep biological tissues. In this study, we synthesized new luciferin analogues that emit light at 765 nm using Photinus pyralis luciferase.
    Luciferin
    Bioluminescence imaging
    Luciferases
    Photoprotein
    Light emission
    Citations (6)
    Firefly bioluminescence is widely used in life science research as a useful analysis tool. For example, the adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP)-dependent enzymatic firefly bioluminescence reaction has long been utilized as a microbial monitoring tool. Rapid and sensitive firefly luciferin-luciferase combinations are used not only to measure cell viability but also for reporter-gene assays. Recently, bioluminescence was utilized as a noninvasive, real-time imaging tool for living subjects to monitor cells and biological events. However, the number of commercialized luciferase genes is limited and tissue-permeable near-infrared (NIR) region emitting light is required for in vivo imaging. In this review, recent studies describing synthetic luciferin analogues predicted to have red-shifted bioluminescence are summarized. Luciferase substrates emitting red, green, and blue light that were designed and developed in our laboratory are presented. The longest emission wavelength of the synthesized luciferin analogues was recorded at 675 nm, which is within the NIR region. This compound is now commercially available as "Aka Lumine®". Keywords: Biological window, Bioluminescence imaging, Enhanced emission, Firefly, Luciferin analogue, Multicolor emission, Near-infrared.
    Luciferin
    Luciferases
    Bioluminescence imaging
    Light emission
    Photostimulation