Etmopterus lantern sharks use coelenterazine as the substrate for their luciferin-luciferase bioluminescence system
08. March 2021
Etmopterus lantern sharks use coelenterazine as the substrate for their luciferin-luciferase bioluminescence system
Gaku Mizuno, Daichi Yano, José Paitio, Hiromitsu Endo, Yuichi Oba
ABSTRACT:
The lantern shark genus Etmopterus is a group of deep-sea bioluminescent fishes. They emit blue light mainly from the ventral body surface, and the primary biological function is considered to be for camouflage by counterillumination. In this study, we detected both coelenterazine and coelenterazine-specific luciferase activity in the ventral photophore tissues. The results suggested that bioluminescence in lantern sharks is produced using coelenterazine as the substrate for the luciferin-luciferase reaction.
bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.01.433353