Acquisition of bioluminescent trait by non-luminous organisms from luminous organisms through various origins

Light-emitting plants development by inoculating of Vibrio campbellii RMT1 on the rhizospheric zone of Aglaonema cochinchinense

The concept of utilizing light-emitting plants (LEPs) as an alternative to traditional electricity-based lighting has garnered interest. However, challenges persist due to the need for genetic modification or chemical infusion in current LEPs. To address this, researchers have investigated the interaction between plants and luminous bacteria, specifically Vibrio campbellii, which can efficiently be translocated into Aglaonema cochinchinense tissues through the roots to produce LEPs. This study concentrated on examining light intensity and enhancing luminescence by growing plants and spraying them with various media substances. The results indicated that V. campbellii successfully translocated into the plant tissue via the root system and accumulated a high number of bacteria in the stems, approximately 8.46 × 104 CFU/g, resulting in a light-emitting intensity increase of 12.13-fold at 48 h, and then decreased after 30 h. Interestingly, luminescence stimulation by spraying the growth medium managed to induce the highest light emission, reaching 14.84-fold at 48 h, though it had some negative effects on the plant. Conversely, spraying plants with CaCl2 on the leaves prolonged light emission for a longer duration (42 h after spraying) and had a positive effect on plant health, it maintained ion homeostasis and reduced-MDA content. This study highlights the potential of using V. campbellii and CaCl2 spraying for the future development of practical light-emitting plants.

Theoretical Study on the Formation and Decomposition Mechanisms of Coelenterazine Dioxetanone

Bioluminescence has been drawing broad attention due to its high signal-to-noise ratio and high bioluminescence quantum yields, which has been widely applied in the fields of biomedicine, bioanalysis, and so on. Among numerous bioluminescent substrates, coelenterazine is famous for its wide distribution. However, the oxygenation reaction mechanism of coelenterazine is far from being completely understood. In this paper, the formation and decomposition mechanisms of coelenterazine dioxetanone were investigated via density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD) DFT approaches. The results showed that the oxygenation reaction first occurred along the triplet-state potential energy surface (PES), after the intersystem crossing (ISC), second jumped to the diradical-state PES, and ultimately formed coelenterazine dioxetanone. For the decomposition mechanism of dioxetanone, the computational results showed that the chemiexcitation of neutral dioxetanone was more efficient than that of other dioxetanone species. Moreover, the diradical properties and the degree of ionic character are modified by the counter ions.

De novo genome assembly of the bioluminescent mushroom Omphalotus guepiniiformis reveals an Omphalotus-specific lineage of the luciferase gene block

Omphalotus guepiniiformis, a bioluminescent mushroom species, is a source of the potentially valuable anticancer chemical. To provide genome information, we de novo assembled the high-quality O. guepiniiformis genome using two Next-Generation sequencing techniques, PacBio and Illumina sequencing. Our draft O. guepiniiformis genome comprises 42.5 Mbp of sequence with only 80 contigs and an N50 sequence length of over 1 Mbp. There were 15,554 predicted coding genes, and 7693 genes were functionally annotated with Gene Ontology terms. We performed a genomic study focusing on mushroom bioluminescent pathway cluster genes by comparing 17 luminescent and 23 non-luminescent Agaricales species belonging to 23 genera. Synteny analysis of genomic regions near the luminescent pathway cluster genes inferred that the Omphalotus lineage was genus-specific. In summary, our de novo assembled O. guepiniiformis genome provides significant biological insights into this organism, including the evolution of the luciferase gene block, and forms the basis for future analyses.