Department of Environmental Biology, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan.
Departamento de Química Fundamental, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Photochem Photobiol. 2017 Mar;93(2):405-415. doi: 10.1111/php.12704. Epub 2017 Feb 22.
Bioluminescence is a form of chemiluminescence generated by luminous organisms. Luminous taxa have currently been reported from about 800 genera and probably over 10 000 species in the world. On the other hand, their bioluminescent systems, including chemical structures of luciferins/chromophores and the genes encoding luciferases/photoproteins, have been elucidated from only a few taxonomic groups, for example beetles, bacteria, dinoflagellates, ostracods and some cnidarians. Research efforts to understand unknown bioluminescence systems are being conducted around the world, and recently, for example, novel luciferin structures of luminous enchytraeid potworms and fungi were identified by the authors. In this study, we review the current status and perspectives, in the context of postgenomic era, of most likely novel but less-revealed bioluminescence systems of ten selected organisms: earthworm, parchment tubeworm, fireworm, scaleworm, limpet, millipede, brittle star, acorn worms, tunicate and shark, which indeed are the next focus of our international collaboration.
生物发光是发光生物体产生的一种化学发光形式。目前，世界上约有 800 属和可能超过 10000 种的发光生物已被报道。另一方面，它们的生物发光系统，包括荧光素/生色团的化学结构和编码荧光酶/光蛋白的基因，仅从少数分类群中得到阐明，例如甲虫、细菌、甲藻、介形类动物和一些刺胞动物。全世界都在努力研究未知的生物发光系统，例如，作者最近确定了发光环节动物蚯蚓和真菌的新型荧光素结构。在这项研究中，我们回顾了在后基因组时代背景下，十个选定生物（蚯蚓、羊皮纸管虫、火虫、鳞虫、石鳖、千足虫、海百合、藤壶、被囊动物和鲨鱼）中可能尚未揭示的生物发光系统的现状和前景，这些生物确实是我们国际合作的下一个重点。
