Bacterial bioluminescence assay for bioanalysis and bioimaging.

Abstract

Bioluminescence occurs through a chemical reaction in organisms that spontaneously produce light. Luminescent bacteria are unique among bioluminescent organisms. Their bioluminescence intensity is an indicator of their metabolic activity, which can directly reflect the influence of environmental factors on cell viability. Moreover, the whole bioluminescence process is totally gene encoded without the addition of extra substrates. As a result, bacterial bioluminescence has been a powerful tool for whole-cell biosensors and bio-reporters in bioanalysis and bioimaging. This review aims to cover the applications of wild-type and recombinant luminescent bacteria to detect the toxicity of environmental pollutants and biological molecules. The bacterial bioluminescence analytical assay has characteristics such as high sensitivity, short-term detection, and easy operation. Meanwhile, due to the development of gene engineering and optical technology, bacterial luciferase as a reporter protein has been successfully expressed in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, tissues, and organs of animals. The major applications for bacterial luciferase-based bioluminescence imaging, such as infectious diseases, cancer therapy, and stem cell tracing, are discussed in this review.

• Authors: Yaohua Li, Xinyu He, Weinan Zhu, Haoran Li, Wei Wang
• Journal: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry (Anal Bioanal Chem) Vol. 414 Issue 1 Pg. 75-83 (Jan 2022) ISSN: 1618-2650 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 34693470 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: © 2021. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents

Topics

• Anti-Bacterial Agents (pharmacology)
• Bacteria (classification, drug effects, genetics)
• Bacterial Physiological Phenomena
• Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
• Luminescent Measurements (methods)