Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil.
Photochem Photobiol Sci. 2010 Jan;9(1):87-92. doi: 10.1039/b9pp00078j. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
Among bioluminescent beetles of Elateroidea superfamily, railroad-worms (Phengodidae) produce the widest range of colors, from green to red, using the same luciferin-luciferase system. Members of the Mastinocerini tribe display additional unique cephalic organs that emit red-shifted light, with Phrixothrix railroad-worms being the most dramatic cases with head lanterns emitting red light. Although the luciferases from the head lanterns of Phrixothrix hirtus and from the lateral lanterns of P. vivianii were previously cloned, the luciferases from both lanterns of the same species were not cloned yet. Therefore the origin and evolution of head and lateral lanterns luciferases in Phengodidae remains unknown. In the present work, we cloned by PCR the cDNA for lateral lantern luciferases of three Mastinocerini species: Phrixothrix hirtus, Brasilocerus sp(3). and Taximastioncerus sp. The results suggest that the head and lateral lanterns luciferases in Mastinocerini are coded by paralogous genes, and that the ancestral luciferase in the Phengodinae subfamily produced green bioluminescence. The evolutionary history of bioluminescence colors within Phengodinae is discussed.
在萤科超科的生物发光甲虫中，铁路蠕虫（萤科）使用相同的荧光素-荧光酶系统产生从绿色到红色的最广泛颜色范围。 Mastinocerini 部落的成员还具有额外的独特头部器官，发出红移光， Phrixothrix 铁路蠕虫是头部灯笼发出红光的最典型例子。虽然 Phrixothrix hirtus 的头部灯笼和 P. vivianii 的侧灯的荧光酶先前已被克隆，但同一物种的两个灯的荧光酶尚未被克隆。因此，萤科头部和侧灯荧光酶的起源和进化仍然未知。在本工作中，我们通过 PCR 克隆了三种 Mastinocerini 物种的侧灯荧光酶的 cDNA： Phrixothrix hirtus 、 Brasilocerus sp(3). 和 Taximastioncerus sp. 结果表明， Mastinocerini 的头部和侧灯荧光酶由同源基因编码，而 Phengodinae 亚科的原始荧光酶产生绿色生物发光。讨论了 Phengodinae 内生物发光颜色的进化历史。
