Firefly luciferase exhibits bimodal action depending on the luciferin chirality.
Firefly luciferase is able to convert L-luciferin into luciferyl-CoA even under ordinary aerobic luciferin-luciferase reaction conditions. The luciferase is able to recognize strictly the chirality of the luciferin structure, serving as the acyl-CoA synthetase for L-luciferin, whereas d-luciferin is used for the bioluminescence reaction. D-Luciferin inhibits the luciferyl-CoA synthetase activity of L-luciferin, whereas L-luciferin retards the bioluminescence reaction of D-luciferin, meaning that both enzyme activities are prevented by the enantiomer of its own substrate.
Nakamura
Mitsuhiro
M
Department of Applied Physics and Chemistry, The University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan.
Maki
Shojiro
S
Amano
Yoshiharu
Y
Ohkita
Yutaka
Y
Niwa
Kazuki
K
Hirano
Takashi
T
Ohmiya
Yoshihiro
Y
Niwa
Haruki
H
D000214:Acyl Coenzyme A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003065:Coenzyme A / Q000378:metabolism; D049454:Firefly Luciferin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D049409:Luciferases, Firefly / Q000378:metabolism*; D049449:Luminescence; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
D000214:Acyl Coenzyme A; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C501929:luciferyl-coenzyme A; D049454:Firefly Luciferin; D049409:Luciferases, Firefly; D003065:Coenzyme A