Departamento de Oceanografia Física, Química e Geológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, Brazil.
Photochem Photobiol. 2020 Jul;96(4):768-778. doi: 10.1111/php.13221. Epub 2020 Apr 11.
Chaetopterus variopedatus has been studied for over a century in terms of its physiology, ecology and life history. One focus of research is on its intrinsic bioluminescent emissions, which can be observed as a blue light emitted from the extremities of individual body segments, or as a secreted mucus. Even though research shows that C. variopedatus is a species complex miscategorized as a single species, all of the variants of this polychaete produce light, which has been investigated in terms of both physiology and biochemistry. Despite decades of study, there are still many questions about the luminescence reaction, and, as of yet, no clear function for light emission exists. This review summarizes the current knowledge on C. variopedatus luminescence in addition to briefly describing its morphology, life cycle and ecology. Possible functions for luminescence were discussed using observations of specimens found in Brazil, along with a comparison of previous studies of other luminescent organisms. Further study will provide a better understanding of how and why C. variopedatus produces luminescence, and purifying the protein and luciferin involved could lead to new bioanalytical applications, as this reaction is unique among all known luminescent systems.
沙蚕已被研究了一个多世纪，其研究方向主要集中在生理学、生态学和生活史方面。其中一个研究重点是其内在的生物发光排放，可以观察到个体身体片段末端发出的蓝光，或者是分泌的黏液。尽管研究表明，沙蚕是一个被错误归类为单一物种的复杂物种，但这种多毛类动物的所有变体都能发光，这已经在生理学和生物化学方面得到了研究。尽管经过几十年的研究，关于发光反应仍然存在许多问题，而且到目前为止，还没有明确的发光功能。本综述总结了目前关于沙蚕发光的知识，此外还简要描述了其形态、生命周期和生态学。利用在巴西发现的标本的观察结果，并结合对其他发光生物的先前研究进行比较，讨论了发光的可能功能。进一步的研究将更好地了解沙蚕产生发光的方式和原因，并且纯化涉及的蛋白质和荧光素可能会带来新的生物分析应用，因为这种反应在所有已知的发光系统中是独一无二的。
