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Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the emission of cold visible light by living organisms with the aim of biological communication. It is found among bacteria, fungi, algae, coelenterates, molluscs, artrhopods, fishes, mainly in the marine environment. In the terrestrial environment, it is found among fungi, anellids, molluscs and mainly in insects.

Bioluminescence is generated by highly exotermic reactions, enzymatically catalyzed, in which the energy of chemical bounds of organic compounds is efficiently converted in  visible light.  In these reactions, molecules generally known as luciferins are oxidized by molecular oxygen, producing electronically excited molecules which decay emitting photons of visible light. These reactions are catalyzed by enzymes known as luciferases.

Bioluminescence constitutes one of the signatures of life, and for this reason it can be used as an excellent bioindicator, from the molecular to the global level, and as an excellent bioanalytical reagent and luminescent marker for gene expression. 

Our laboratory investigates the bioluminescence of Brazilian organisms under the biophysical, biochemical and evolutive aspects. Our work emphasyzes study of the structure and function relationship and molecular evolution of luciferases. Understanding how these interesting enzymes produce light, may shed light on how enzymes evolve new catalytic functions, and is the key to develop new luciferases with optimized properties and to engineer new enzymes with bioluminescent properties. We also engineer luciferases for use as bioanalytical reagents and as reporter genes for biosensing and bioimaging purposes. Finally, we are interested in investigating the biodiversity of bioluminescent organisms in Brazil, and use them as potential environmental indicators and as a source of new bioluminescent molecules for analytical purposes.

 

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