The Purification Properties, and Chemiluminescent Quantum Yield of Bacterial Luciferase.

In the purified bacterial bioluminescent system obtained from Photobacterium jischeri it has been shown that the first step involves the reduction of enzyme by reduced flavin mononucleotide, followed by a combination of reduced enzyme with molecular oxygen (I). The proposed reaction scheme illustrates that aldehyde (RCHO) then reacts with a hypothetical peroxide intermediate to form a complex which, after several subsequent steps, results in an excited state arbitrarily designated as oxidized enzyme.