The bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri and juveniles of the squid Euprymna scolopes specifically recognize and respond to one another during the formation of a persistent colonization within the host's nascent light-emitting organ. The resulting fully developed light organ contains brightly luminescing bacteria and has undergone a bacterium-induced program of tissue differentiation, one c...

Sequence analysis of the bacterial luminescence (lux) genes has proven effective in helping resolve evolutionary relationships among luminous bacteria. Phylogenetic analysis using lux genes, however, is based on the assumptions that the lux genes are present as single copies on the bacterial chromosome and are vertically inherited. We report here that certain strains of Photobacterium leiognath...

Several groups of marine fishes and squids form mutualistic bioluminescent symbioses with luminous bacteria. The dependence of the animal on its symbiont for light production, the animal’s specialized anatomical adaptations for harboring bacteria and controlling light emission, and the host family bacterial species specificity characteristic of these associations suggest that bioluminescent sym...

The luxA and luxB genes of luminescent bacteria, most frequently from Vibrio spp., are widely used as reporter genes (3,10). The heterodimer (αβ) luciferase enzyme catalyzes oxidation of the reduced flavin mononucleotide (FMNH2) and a long-chain fatty aldehyde, resulting in emission of light. In vitro, dodecanal or nonanal are used as preferred exogenous aldehyde substrates for bacterial lucife...