Catabolite repression of bacterial bioluminescence: functional implications.

The synthesis of the bioluminescent system of the marine luminous bacterium Photobacterium fischeri (strain MAV) is subject to both transient and catabolite repression by glucose, and this repression can be reversed by adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate. Catabolite repression is a mechanism that characteristically controls the synthesis of inducible enzymes involved in energy metabolism. The fact that luciferase synthesis is subject to this control suggests that whatever its role(s) may be, it cannot be considered a nonfunctional or vestigial enzyme system as previously hypothesized, and may actually have some more direct role in metabolic processes.