Beyond D-luciferin: expanding the scope of bioluminescence imaging in vivo

Spencer T Adams Jr; Stephen C Miller

doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.07.003

Beyond D-luciferin: expanding the scope of bioluminescence imaging in vivo

Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2014 Aug:21:112-20. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.07.003. Epub 2014 Aug 1.

Authors

Spencer T Adams Jr¹, Stephen C Miller²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Electronic address: Stephen.miller@umassmed.edu.

Abstract

The light-emitting chemical reaction catalyzed by the enzyme firefly luciferase is widely used for noninvasive imaging in live mice. However, photon emission from the luciferase is crucially dependent on the chemical properties of its substrate, D-luciferin. In this review, we describe recent work to replace the natural luciferase substrate with synthetic analogs that extend the scope of bioluminescence imaging.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Benzothiazoles* / chemical synthesis
Benzothiazoles* / chemistry
Benzothiazoles* / metabolism
Cell Survival
Luciferases / metabolism
Luminescence*
Optical Imaging / methods*
Substrate Specificity

Substances

Benzothiazoles
D-luciferin
Luciferases

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding