Welsh David K, Kay Steve A
Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2005 Feb;16(1):73-8. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2004.12.006.
Luciferase enzymes catalyze the emission of light from a substrate -- a phenomenon known as bioluminescence -- and have been employed as reporters of many biological functions. Luminescent reporters are much dimmer than fluorescent reporters, and therefore provide relatively modest spatial and temporal resolution. Yet, they are generally more sensitive and less toxic, making them particularly useful for long-term longitudinal studies of living cells, tissues and whole animals. Bioluminescence imaging has proven useful for detecting protein-protein interactions, for tracking cells in vivo, and for monitoring the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of specific genes. Recent applications have included longitudinal monitoring of tumor progression in vivo, and monitoring circadian rhythms with single-cell resolution.
荧光素酶催化底物发光——这一现象被称为生物发光——并且已被用作多种生物学功能的报告分子。发光报告分子比荧光报告分子暗得多，因此提供的空间和时间分辨率相对较低。然而，它们通常更灵敏且毒性更小，这使得它们对于活细胞、组织和整个动物的长期纵向研究特别有用。生物发光成像已被证明可用于检测蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用、在体内追踪细胞以及监测特定基因的转录和转录后调控。最近的应用包括在体内对肿瘤进展的纵向监测以及以单细胞分辨率监测昼夜节律。
