ReviewNature reviews. Chemistry2021
The elusive relationship between structure and colour emission in beetle luciferases.
Review in Nature reviews. Chemistry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mapping the structural dynamics of red- and blue-emitting beetle luciferases revealed by HDX-MS.Life science alliance · 2026Article
- Luciferase complementation for cellular assays beyond protein-protein interactions.Analytical sciences : the international journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry · 2025Review
- Biosensing strategies using recombinant luminescent proteins and their use for food and environmental analysis.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2024Review
- Expedient Synthesis and Characterization of π-Extended Luciferins.The Journal of organic chemistry · 2024Article
- Quantifying Plant Signaling Pathways by Integrating Luminescence-Based Biosensors and Mathematical Modeling.Biosensors · 2024Article
- Exploring the Light-Emitting Agents inJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Bioluminescence as a functional tool for visualizing and controlling neuronal activityNeurophotonics · 2024Article
- Discovery of Red-Shifting Mutations in Firefly Luciferase Using High-Throughput Biochemistry.Biochemistry · 2024Article
- Investigation of the Chemiluminescent Reaction of a Fluorinated Analog of Marine Coelenterazine.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation into the Photophysical Properties of Halogenated Coelenteramide Analogs.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Computational Investigation of Substituent Effects on the Fluorescence Wavelengths of Oxyluciferin Analogs.Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. A, Chemistry · 2022Article
- Bioluminescence Color-Tuning Firefly Luciferases: Engineering and Prospects for Real-Time Intracellular pH Imaging and Heavy Metal Biosensing.Biosensors · 2022Review
- Identification of 2-Benzylidene-tetralone Derivatives as Highly Potent and Reversible Firefly Luciferase Inhibitors.ACS medicinal chemistry letters · 2022Article
- Cultural Significance of Beetles in Sub-Saharan Africa.Insects · 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
4 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In beetles, luciferase enzymes catalyse the conversion of chemical energy into light through bioluminescence. The principles of this process have become a fundamental biotechnological tool that revolutionized biological research. Different beetle species can emit different colours of light, despite using the same substrate and highly homologous luciferases. The chemical reasons for these different colours are hotly debated yet remain unresolved. This Review summarizes the structural, biochemical and spectrochemical data on beetle bioluminescence reported over the past three decades. We identify the factors that govern what colour is emitted by wild-type and mutant luciferases. This topic is controversial, but, in general, we note that green emission requires cationic residues in a specific position near the benzothiazole fragment of the emitting molecule, oxyluciferin. The commonly emitted green-yellow light can be readily changed to red by introducing a variety of individual and multiple mutations. However, complete switching of the emitted light from red to green has not been accomplished and the synergistic effects of combined mutations remain unexplored. The minor colour shifts produced by most known mutations could be important in establishing a 'mutational catalogue' to fine-tune emission of beetle luciferases, thereby expanding the scope of their applications.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.