It has been hypothesized that both the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) and the 5'-untranslated region (5'UTR) of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) mRNA influence the expression of the ODC protein. Here, we use luciferase expression constructs to examine the influence of both UTRs in keratinocyte derived cell lines. The ODC 5'UTR or 3'UTR was cloned into the pGL3 control vector upstream or downst...

Development of RNAi-based therapeutics has the potential to revolutionize treatment options for a range of human diseases. However, as with gene therapy, a major barrier to progress is the lack of methods to achieve and measure efficient delivery for systemic administration. We have developed a positive-readout pharmacodynamic transgenic reporter mouse model allowing noninvasive real-time asses...

Bacterial luciferase is a flavin monooxygenase that catalyzes the oxidation of a long-chain aldehyde and releases energy in the form of visible light. A new crystal form of luciferase cloned from Vibrio harveyi has been grown under low-salt concentrations, which diffract x-rays beyond 1.5-A resolution. The x-ray structure of bacterial luciferase has been refined to a conventional R-factor of 18...

The poliovirus 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) confers on mRNAs the capacity to be translated by internal initiation. The functionality of this RNA motif has been tested in yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) using luciferase (luc) as a reporter gene. Although some luciferase is synthesized from luc mRNA containing the poliovirus 5' UTR (Leader-luc mRNA), much more luciferase is synthesized ...

To study the biology of regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins and to facilitate the identification of small molecule modulators of RGS proteins, the authors recently developed an advanced yeast 2-hybrid (YTH) assay format for GalphaZ and RGS-Z1. Moreover, they describe the development of a multiplexed luciferase-based assay that has been successfully adapted to screen large numbers o...

Photinus pyralis (firefly) luciferase is widely used as a reporter system to monitor alterations in gene promoter and/or signalling pathway activities in vitro. The enzyme catalyses the formation of oxyluciferin from D-luciferin in an ATP-consuming reaction involving photon emission. The purpose of the present study was to characterize the luciferase-inhibiting potential of (E)-2-fluoro-4'-meth...

Bioluminescence relies on the oxidation of a luciferin substrate catalysed by a luciferase enzyme. Luciferins and luciferases are generic terms used to describe a large variety of substrates and enzymes. Whereas luciferins can be shared by phylogenetically distant organisms which feed on organisms producing them, luciferases have been thought to be lineage-specific enzymes. Numerous light emiss...

We report the introduction of functional RNA molecules into yeast spheroplasts. Plasmids containing the firefly luciferase coding region were transcribed to yield RNAs suitable for introduction into yeast cells and direct assay of their translation products. The 5' noncoding regions of the RNAs were derived either from the 5' noncoding regions of firefly luciferase, poliovirus, or yeast virus-l...

2-Bromo[1-14C]1-decanal was synthesized as an affinity labeling probe for the aliphatic aldehyde site of Vibrio harveyi luciferase. In the presence of excess amounts of this probe, the inactivation of bacterial luciferase occurred following apparent first order kinetics. This inactivation was markedly retarded in the presence of decanal but neither butanal (a very poor aldehyde substrate) nor F...

THE STRUCTURE OF THE LUCIFERINS With their fascinating phenomena we recognize many bioluminescent organisms, such as firefly, luminous bacteria, luminous fungi, and luminous deep-sea fish. Some eighty years ago, Dubois found that the bioluminescence of the luminescent beetle Pyrophorus is due to the luciferin—luciferase reaction. Bioluminescence1—9 was observed when a hot aqueous extract ("luci...