Bioluminescence

The following sections are included:

• About the Editors
• List of Contributors
• Contents
• Abbreviations, Symbols and Definitions

The emission of light from animals and fungi has inspired the curiosity and interest of mankind ever since the ancient times of Aristotle (384–322B.C.) and Pliny (23–79 A.D.). It has been the target of investigations by a number of great naturalists, physicists and physiologists (Harvey, 1957). Using a vacuum pump he built, Robert Boyle (1627–1691) showed that the luminescence of meat and fungi requires air. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), who found that lightning is caused by electricity, hypothesized that the phosphorescence of the sea is an electrical phenomenon, but he did not hesitate to change this opinion when he discovered that the light in seawater could be filtered off with a cloth. Paolo Panceri (1833–1877) is noted for his publications on the anatomy and histology of various types of luminous organisms, and Raphaël Dubois (1849–1929) discovered luciferin and luciferase. The secrets of the chemistry of bioluminescence, however, began to be uncovered only in the 20th century. Out of necessity, Eilhardt Wiedemann (1888) had created the term "luminescence," meaning the emission of cold light, and Harvey (1916) used the term "bioluminescence," luminescence from living organisms, possibly for the first time…

Since ancient times, the light emitted by fireflies and glow-worms has attracted the curiosity of people. Descriptions of the phenomena are frequently found in old poems, songs, and the folklore of many countries. Old scientific studies on these phenomena are also numerous, particularly after the 17th century. However, the chemical study of bioluminescent insects began only in the early 20th century…

Although the luminescence of dead fish has been known since ancient times, the phenomenon became a target of scientific research only after the 16th century (Harvey, 1952, 1957). Robert Boyle (1668) found the dependence of luminescence on air, and Benjamin Martin (1761) discovered the necessity of salt for marine luminous bacteria although he thought he was studying the phosphorescence of the sea. The fact that light is produced by living bacteria became clear in the mid-19th century (Harvey, 1952). Modern study of the bacterial luminescence reaction began with the discoveries of fatty aldehydes and FMNH₂ as the essential factors of the light emission (Cormier and Strehler, 1953; Strehler and Cormier, 1954). These discoveries eventually developed into the present detailed understanding of bacterial luminescence, in which J. Woodland Hastings and his associates played a major role…

An overview of Crustacea. The class Crustacea belongs to the phylum Arthropoda together with the classes Insecta (such as the fireflies), Diplopoda (millipedes), and Chilopoda (centipedes). It is a very large class and embraces several important groups of bioluminescent organisms, such as ostracods, copepods, amphipods, euphausiids, and decapods (see Herring, 1985). The ostracods are identified by two hinged valves covering a small body, and include the genera Cypridina and Pyrocypris. These organisms eject luminous liquid into the seawater from their labral glands. The study of the bioluminescence of Cypridina hilgendorfii was begun by E. N. Harvey about 90 years ago, and it is now one of the best-studied fields in bioluminescence, as detailed in this chapter. The biochemistry of Pyrocypris bioluminescence has been little studied, probably due to its resemblance to Cypridina bioluminescence, and also because of the relative difficulty in obtaining a large quantity of specimens…

The organisms of the phylum Cnidaria (or Coelenterata) are characterized by apparent radial symmetry of body forms and simple structures consisting of two layers of cells surrounding an internal space (coelenteron) which also functions as a digestive cavity. Coelenterates occur in various forms, such as plant-shaped hydroids, sea pens, and sea anemones, as well as floating jellyfishes and siphonophores. They are predominantly sessile — attached by a base — at least during one stage of their life cycles. Many species of coelenterates are bioluminescent, except for sea anemones and corals. In all cases as far as known, their bioluminescence is caused by coelenterazine or its derivatives existing in their light organs. The phylum Cnidaria comprises three classes, Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, and Anthozoa, which are briefly explained below…

The following sections are included:

• Discovery of Coelenterazine
• Occurrence of Coelenterazine
• Properties of Coelenterazine and Its Derivatives
• Chemi- and Bioluminescence Reactions of Coelenterazine
• Various Chemical Reactions of Coelenterazine
• Synthesis of Coelenterazines
• Coelenterazine Luciferases

In Mollusca, bioluminescence occurs in a great variety of organisms with distinctly different appearances, such as the classes Gastropoda (limpets, snails and sea hares), Bivalvia (clams), and Cephalopoda (squids and octopuses). All luminous molluscs presently known are marine organisms, except the New Zealand fresh water limpet Latia neritoides and the Malaysian land snail Quantula (Dyakia) striata. No information is yet available on the biochemical aspects of Quantula luminescence…

Among the vast diversity of worms, only representatives of annelids possess the ability to luminesce. In the phylum Annelida, approximately a hundred bioluminescent species are distributed in eight Polychaeta (marine worms) families, namely Acrocirridae, Chaetopteridae, Cirratulidae, Flabelligeridae, Polynoidae, Syllidae, Terebellidae, and Tomopteridaetwo and in five Clitellata (earthworms) families including Acanthodrilidae, Enchytraeidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, and Octochaetidae (Verdes and Gruber, 2017). Amid these, there are species that occupy an incredible variety of habitats and ecological niches and show a corresponding diversity of bioluminescent colors and patterns (Fig. 7.1).

The diverse group Protozoa consists of microscopic single-celled organisms. Of the various protozoan types, only Radiolaria and Dinoflagellata are known to contain luminous organisms (Harvey, 1952; Herring, 1978).

Luminous fungi are commonly seen on land, like the luminous bacteria in the sea. In woods, certain kinds of mushroom and decaying wood emit mysterious ghostly light at night. This phenomenon was known since ancient times and described by Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) and Pliny (23–79 A.D.), and the light was often called “shining wood” or “fox-fire.” It is well known that Robert Boyle, in 1667, used his air pump to demonstrate the necessity of air in the light production of shining wood (Boyle, 1668). One of the most important early discoveries concerning fungal luminescence was made in the early 19th century through the careful observations of Derschau and others (Harvey, 1952, 1957); they found that the light of luminous wood came from the fungal mycelium in the wood…

The following sections are included:

• Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea — Brittle Stars
  • The brittle star O. californica
  • The brittle star Amphiura filiformis
• Arthropoda: Diplopoda — Millipede Motyxia sequoiae
  • Extraction and purification of the Motyxia photoprotein
  • Assay of Motyxia photoprotein
  • Properties of Luminodesmus photoprotein
  • Porphyrin as a possible chromophore of Motyxia photoprotein
• Arthropoda: Chilopoda. Centipede Orphnaeus brevilabiatus
• Hemicordata
  • The acorn worm Balanoglossus biminiensis
  • The luciferin of Ptychodera flava
• Chordata: Urochordata (Tunicates)
• Chordata: The Luminous Fishes
  • Coastal and shallow-water fishes that utilize Cypridina luciferin
  • Oceanic deep-sea luminous fishes
  • Future research on fish bioluminescence
• Acknowledgment

The following sections are included:

• Appendices
• References
• Index