Robust red-emission spectra and yields in firefly bioluminescence against temperature changes

Abstract

We measured the quantitative spectra of firefly (Photinus pyralis) bioluminescence at various temperatures to investigate the temperature dependence of the luciferin-luciferase reaction at 15–34 °C. The quantitative spectra were decomposed very well into red (1.9 eV), orange (2.0 eV), and green (2.2 eV) Gaussian components. The intensity of the green component was the only temperature sensitive quantity that linearly decreased as the temperature increased at pH 7 and 8. We found the quantitative bioluminescence spectra to be robust below 2.0 eV against temperature and other experimental conditions. The revealed robustness of the red emissions should be useful for quantitative applications such as adenosine-5′-triphosphate detection.

In vivo bioluminescence emissions of the firefly Luciola praeusta at low temperatures

“…The peak wavelength is observed at 562 nm, and the full-width-at-half maximum is measured to be 55 nm, extending from 537 nm to 592 nm. It is recently reported that in vitro quantitative bioluminescence spectra of the species P. pyralis were temperature sensitive at pH 7.0 and 8.0 above photon energy 2.0 eV and insensitive below 2.0 eV; the temperature-dependent color change was due solely to the intensity change of the green Gaussian component while the other two components red and orange were robust, that is, insensitive to environments [8]. In the present experiment, with decreasing temperature up to 12°C, neither the peak gets shifted nor any change occurs in the FWHM or HWHMs; the wavelength spreads in shorter and longer wavelength sides also remain the same.…”

“…The light of the Indian species of firefly L. praeusta is shown, in emission spectra recorded on color films in a spectrograph and in diffraction patterns produced by a grating recorded in a camera, to be of three colours: green, yellow and red [6,7]. It is found for the in vitro bioluminescence of the North American firefly Photinus pyralis that the green component is the only temperature-sensitive component; orange and red sectors being quite robust [8].…”

Spectroscopic Properties of Amine‐substituted Analogues of Firefly Luciferin and Oxyluciferin

“…It is one of the characteristics of firefly bioluminescence to generate light that varies from green to red colors. The emission colors are dependent on different varieties of luciferases and conditions surrounding the reaction site, such as pH, coexisting metal ions and temperature (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). It has been revealed that the light emitter is OLH.…”

Steady-State and Time-Resolved Bioluminescence of the Firefly <i>Asymmetricata circumdata</i> (Motschulsky)

“…Similarly, studies on inter-flash intervals of Luciola cruciata at five different sites in central Japan have indicated significant negative correlation between ambient temperature and inter-flash intervals at any of the five sites 24 . In the study on the exponential decay time of the in vitro bioluminescence of P. pyralis at various temperatures 10 , it has been found that the lifetime is shorter at pH 7.0 than at pH 8.0, lengthening sharply above 30C at pH 8.0. Very recently, it has been observed that the flash duration of L. praeusta changes with change in temperature, and the change is substantially linear, implying that the speed of the enzymecatalysed chemiluminescence reaction, which produces the light of the firefly, varies linearly with temperature 25 .…”

“…In a quantitative characterization of the bioluminescence of the North American firefly Photinus pyralis, the intensity of the green component has been found to be the only temperature-sensitive quantity that linearly decreased as the temperature increased at pH 7.0 and 8.0. The robustness of the red and orange components has indicated that they had been derived from one excited state of the luciferinluciferase complex, whose generation and luminescence yield are insensitive to environments 10 . There have been quite a few studies on different aspects of the flashing of fireflies.…”