Morphology & Physiology
Species
Cultivation & Storage
Luminescent Bacteria & Didactics
Bioluminescence refers to the visible light emission in living organism that accompanies the oxidation of organic compounds (luciferans) mediated by an enzyme catalyst(luciferase). Luminescent organims, wich include bacteria, fungi, fish, insects, algae, and squid, have been found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats, with bacteria being the most widespread and abundant luminescent organism in nature. Although their primary habitat is in the ocean in free-living, symbiotic, saprophytic or parasitic relationships, some luminescent bacteria are found in terrestrial or freshwater habitats. The enzymes involved in the luminescent (lux) system, including luciferase, as well as the corresponding lux genes, have been most extensively studied from the marine bacteria in the Vibrio and Photobacterium generas and from terrestrial bacteria in the Xenorehabdus genus; in particluar the Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio fischeri, Photobacterium phophoreum, Photbacterium leiognathi, and Xenorhabdus luminescens speices. It has been found that the light-emitting reactions are quite distinct for different organisms, with the only common component being molecular oxygen,. Therefore, significant differences have been found between the structures of the luciferases and the corresponding genes from one luminescent organism to another.