[Action of phenobarbital on bacterial luciferase of Photobacterium fischeri].

The effect of phenobarbital, a typical substrate of monooxygenases from higher organisms, on bioluminescence of the marine bacterium Photobacterium fischeri and bacterial luciferase was studied. Phenobarbital was shown to be an effective quenching agent owing to the interaction with cytochrome P-450, a terminal luciferase component. A competitive interrelation was found between phenobarbital and an aliphatic aldehyde, the substrate of the luminescent reaction.