Inhibition and stimulation of the development of the bioluminescent system in Beneckea harveyi by cyclic GMP.

The development of the luminescence system in Beneckea harveyi is controlled by cyclic nucleotides at the level of transcription. In the wild type, it is repressed by exogenously added guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate and this repression is overcome by the addition of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate. These observations alone support a model in which these nucleotides act antagonistically. On the other hand, in a mutant requiring adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate for maximum luminescence, guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate stimulates the synthesis of the luminescence system at low concentrations and inhibits it at higher concentrations. These results are apparently not consistent with a model involving a simple antagonistic effect of guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate on the action of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate.