The Technology

Bioluminescence is the production of light by a living organism. Cloning of the genes responsible for this bioluminescence has led to their use in many applications, ranging from environmental monitoring (glowing in response to a stimulus) to glowing fish production. One characteristic of this bioluminescence is that the Lux proteins that cause this process are very stable and therefore have a long half-life. While this is beneficial for some applications, others require a shorter protein half life. Researchers at the University of Tennessee have genetically modified the coding sequences of these bioluminescence genes so that cells expressing them glow for a shorter duration. This has great potential for drug screening, transcriptional monitoring, and many other applications.

Benefits

-Can monitor gene expression in real time

-Works in bacterial, yeast, or mammalian cells

Applications

-Drug discovery

-Transcriptional monitoring

-Time-responsive bioreporter

Patents

U.S. 7,250,284 issued patent