Thirty-four strains of nonfermentative, respiratory, luminous bacteria were isolated from samples of squid ink and seawater from depths of 200 to 300 m in the Alboran Sea. Although these strains had a few properties similar to properties of Shewanella (Alteromonas) hanedai, they did not cluster phenotypically with any previously described bacterium. The nucleotide sequence of a 740-bp segment o...

The luxA and luxB structural genes of Vibrio harveyi luciferase [alkanal,reduced FMN:oxygen oxidoreductase (1-hydroxylating, luminescing), EC 1.14.14.3] were introduced into a plant expression vector and transferred into tobacco and carrot cells by Agrobacterium-mediated or direct DNA transformation. Simultaneous expression of the luxA and luxB genes was monitored by protein immunoblot analysis...

Expression of bacterial luciferase enzyme (lux) in eukaryotic cells would provide a new bioreporter system for in vivo imaging and diagnostics technology. In spite of this, until now only a few efforts have been made to express bacterial luciferase enzyme in eukaryotic cells. We attempted to synthesize an expression construct of luxA and luxB genes from Vibrio fischeri. The luxA and luxB genes ...

Expression of luminescence in Escherichia coli was recently achieved by cloning genes from the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. One DNA fragment on a hybrid plasmid encoded regulatory functions and enzymatic activities necessary for light production. We report the results of a genetic analysis to identify the luminescence genes (lux) that reside on this recombinant plasmid. lux gene mutations ...

Bioluminescence, the biological production of light, is an unusual characteristic that is observed in certain members of the genera Vibrio, Photobacterium, Photorhabdus, and Shewanella. The bioluminescence system is composed of a group of proteins, including luciferase the main enzyme responsible for light production. I have isolated a bioluminescent strain of gram negative cocci from marine sh...

Bacterial luciferases (LuxAB) can be readily classed as slow or fast decay luciferases based on their rates of luminescence decay in a single turnover assay. Luciferases from Vibrio harveyi and Xenorhabdus (Photorhabdus) luminescens have slow decay rates, and those from the Photobacterium genus, such as Photobacterium fisheri, P. phosphoreum and P. leiognathi, have rapid decay rates. By substit...

Despite a growing literature of Vibrio, Photobacterium, Shewanella, and Photorhabdus biology, little is known of the function bioluminescence provides to these light-emitting bacteria. Proposed benefits of bioluminescence include evasion of predators or attraction of prey for symbiotic bacterial hosts through a distraction, a method of oxygen consumption to suffocate a host or reduce competitio...

A cluster of five genes, proposed to be involved in the formation of extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) precursors via the Leloir pathway, have been identified in the acidophilic autotroph Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. The order of the genes is luxA-galE-galK-pgm-galM, encoding a LuxA-like protein, UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, galactokinase, phosphoglucomutase, and galactose mutarotase, respectiv...