ArticleScience advances2020
Resurrecting the ancient glow of the fireflies.
Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Species-Specific Bacterial Associations Emerge From Stochastically Assembled Microbiomes in Northeastern American Fireflies.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Resurrecting lost ancient myoglobin proteins to elucidate mechanisms of diving adaptation in mammals.Biophysics and physicobiology · 2026Article
- The Source of Firefly Chemical Defenses: Endogenous Biosynthesis of Lucibufagins from Cholesterol.ACS omega · 2025Article
- The Role of Pigments in Light Color Variation of the FireflyEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Structural Basis for the Catalytic Mechanism of ATP-Dependent Diazotase CmaA6.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2025Article
- Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction for Designing Biocatalysts and Investigating their Functional Mechanisms.JACS Au · 2024Review
- Crystal structure of guanosine 5'-monophosphate synthetase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8.Acta crystallographica. Section F, Structural biology communications · 2024Article
- Article
- The BTB-ZF geneeLife · 2024Article
- Genome assembly of Genji firefly (Nipponoluciola cruciata) reveals novel luciferase-like luminescent proteins without peroxisome targeting signal.DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes · 2024Article
- Discovery of Red-Shifting Mutations in Firefly Luciferase Using High-Throughput Biochemistry.Biochemistry · 2024Article
- Review
- Multiple Origins of Bioluminescence in Beetles and Evolution of Luciferase Function.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- EnigmaticiScience · 2023Article
- Predatory fireflies and their toxic firefly prey have evolved distinct toxin resistance strategies.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Predatory fireflies and their toxic firefly prey have evolved distinct toxin resistance strategies.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- A new discovery of the bioluminescent terrestrial snail genus Phuphania (Gastropoda: Dyakiidae).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Beetle bioluminescence outshines extant aerial predators.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Luminescent characteristics and mitochondrial COI barcodes of nine cohabitated Taiwanese fireflies.PeerJ · 2022Article
- Anchored Phylogenomics, Evolution and Systematics of Elateridae: Are All Bioluminescent Elateroidea Derived Click Beetles?Biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The color of firefly bioluminescence is determined by the structure of luciferase. Firefly luciferase genes have been isolated from more than 30 species, producing light ranging in color from green to orange-yellow. Here, we reconstructed seven ancestral firefly luciferase genes, characterized the enzymatic properties of the recombinant proteins, and determined the crystal structures of the gene from ancestral Lampyridae. Results showed that the synthetic luciferase for the last common firefly ancestor exhibited green light caused by a spatial constraint on the luciferin molecule in enzyme, while fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activity, an original function of firefly luciferase, was diminished in exchange. All known firefly species are bioluminescent in the larvae, with a common ancestor arising approximately 100 million years ago. Combined, our findings propose that, within the mid-Cretaceous forest, the common ancestor of fireflies evolved green light luciferase via trade-off of the original function, which was likely aposematic warning display against nocturnal predation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.