Masuda T, Tatsumi H, Nakano E
Research and Development Division Kikkoman Corporation, Chiba, Japan.
Gene. 1989 Apr 30;77(2):265-70. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(89)90074-7.
Luciferases of Japanese and North American fireflies act on a common substrate (luciferin) but the resulting lights emitted are of different colors. As a step toward an understanding of the molecular mechanism of the luciferase reaction, a cDNA clone (pGLf1) was isolated from a cDNA library of lantern poly(A)+RNA of the Japanese firefly, Luciola cruciata ('Genji-botaru' in Japanese), using a cDNA of North American firefly luciferase. The isolated 2-kb cDNA sequence was able to direct the synthesis of active luciferase in Escherichia coli under the control of the lac promoter. The primary structure of Genji firefly luciferase deduced from the nucleotide sequence was shown to consist of 548 amino acids (aa) with an Mr of 60,024. Homology between the amino acid sequences of the Genji and North American firefly luciferases was 67%, but a number of amino acid changes were found in the first 200 aa from the N terminus.
日本萤火虫和北美萤火虫的荧光素酶作用于共同的底物（荧光素），但产生的光颜色不同。作为理解荧光素酶反应分子机制的一步，利用北美萤火虫荧光素酶的cDNA，从日本萤火虫（日语为“源氏萤火虫”）灯笼状聚腺苷酸加尾RNA的cDNA文库中分离出一个cDNA克隆（pGLf1）。分离得到的2kb cDNA序列能够在lac启动子的控制下指导大肠杆菌中活性荧光素酶的合成。从核苷酸序列推导的源氏萤火虫荧光素酶的一级结构显示由548个氨基酸（aa）组成，分子量为60,024。源氏萤火虫荧光素酶和北美萤火虫荧光素酶的氨基酸序列同源性为67%，但在从N端起的前200个氨基酸中发现了许多氨基酸变化。
