A Review on Bioluminescence and its Applications

Bioluminescence is a natural light emitting phenomenon that is emitted by the several terrestrial, marine and some fresh water organisms. This phenomenon could be found in all the major taxonomic groups that are known to comprise around 700 genera of bioluminescent organisms. Though their luminescence emissions are due to two principal components i.e. luciferin and luciferase, yet for many bioluminescent organisms the chemistry involved in the luminescence emission is remains unknown. Over all the bioluminescent organisms, luminescent bacteria are mostly scrutinised paradigm for bacterial and host symbiosis that led researchers to find many genes which involved in luminescence control and symbiosis. However, the principal proteins and genes involved in different luminescent organisms including bioluminescent bacteria are being mostly used for biotechnological applications such as detection of environmental pollutants, contaminants in foods, and more significantly as reporter genes. The motif of this review is to address the knowledge on current studies on bioluminescence aspect and its applications. Keywords— Bioluminescence distribution, bioluminescence applications.