Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, Japan.
Insect Mol Biol. 2010 Dec;19(6):737-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2010.01027.x.
We isolated a luciferase gene (LbLuc) from the non-luminous diurnal firefly, Lucidina biplagiata, with high similarity to that from the nocturnal firefly, Photinus pyralis. The recombinant LbLuc showed luminescence activity comparable to that of the luciferases from P. pyralis and Luciola cruciata. To understand the non-luminosity of L. biplagiata, we determined the amount of luciferase in the adult specimen using the luciferin-luciferase reaction and found that the content of luciferase in L. biplagiata was estimated to be only 0.1% of that in L. cruciata. As previously reported, the content of luciferin in L. biplagiata was less than 0.1% of that in L. cruciata. Thus, the non-luminosity of L. biplagiata might be explained by low levels of both luciferase and luciferin.
我们从昼行性萤火虫 Luciidina biplagiata 中分离出一种与来自夜行性萤火虫 Photinus pyralis 的荧光素酶具有高度相似性的荧光素酶基因 (LbLuc)。重组的 LbLuc 表现出与来自 P. pyralis 和 Luciola cruciata 的荧光素酶相当的发光活性。为了了解 L. biplagiata 的非发光性，我们使用荧光素酶-荧光素反应测定了成年标本中的荧光素酶含量，发现 L. biplagiata 中的荧光素酶含量估计仅为 L. cruciata 的 0.1%。如前所述，L. biplagiata 中的荧光素含量低于 L. cruciata 的 0.1%。因此，L. biplagiata 的非发光性可能是由于荧光素酶和荧光素的含量都较低所致。
