Mutagenesis and Structural Studies Reveal the Basis for the Activity and Stability Properties That Distinguish the Photinus Luciferases scintillans and pyralis.

ABSTRACT: The dazzling yellow-green light emission of the common North American firefly Photinus pyralis and other bioluminescent organisms has provided a wide variety of prominent research applications like reporter gene assays and in vivo imaging methods. While the P. pyralis enzyme has been extensively studied, only recently has a second Photinus luciferase been cloned from the species scintillans. Even though the enzymes share very high sequence identity (89.8%), the color of the light they emit, their specific activity and their stability to heat, pH, and chemical denaturation are quite different with the scintillans luciferase being generally more resistant. Through the construction and evaluation of the properties of chimeric domain swapped, single point, an

SUBMITTER: Branchini BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6810810 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature