Vargulin,[1] also called Cypridinid luciferin,[2]Cypridina luciferin, or Vargula luciferin, is the
luciferin found in the
ostracodCypridina hilgendorfii, also named Vargula hilgendorfii.[3] These bottom dwelling ostracods emit a light stream into water when disturbed presumably to deter predation. Vargulin is also used by the midshipman fish,
Porichthys.
History
A partial extraction procedure was developed in 1935 which involved reacting the compound with
benzoyl chloride to allow it to be separated from the water-soluble components.[4] The compound was first isolated and purified to crystals by
Osamu Shimomura.[5] The structure of the compound was confirmed some years later.[6]Feeding experiments suggest that the compound is synthesized in the animal from three amino-acids:
tryptophan,
isoleucine, and
arginine.[7]
Biochemistry
Vargulin is oxidized by the
Vargula luciferase,[8] a 62 kDa
enzyme, to produce blue light at 462 nm (max emission, detected with a 425 to 525 nm filter).
The vargulin does not cross react with luciferases using
coelenterazine or
Firefly luciferin.
Uses
Vargulin (with the associated luciferase) has applications in
biotechnology:
in a variety of assays, to report gene or
gene expression after luciferase have been genetically introduced in cells,
^Morin JG (2011). "Based on a review of the data, use of the term 'cypridinid' solves the Cypridina/Vargula dilemma for naming the constituents of the luminescent system of ostracods in the family Cypridinidae". Luminescence. 26 (1). Wiley: 1–4.
doi:
10.1002/bio.1282.
ISSN1522-7235.
PMID19862683.
^Kishi Y, Goto, T, Hirata Y, Shiromura O, Johnson FH (1966). "Cypridina bioluminescence. I. Structure of Cypridina luciferin". Tetrahedron Lett. 7 (29): 3427–3436.
doi:
10.1016/S0040-4039(01)82806-9.
^Oba, Y, Kato, S, Ojika, M, Inouye, S (2002). "Biosynthesis of luciferin in the sea firefly, Cypridina hilgendorfii: l-tryptophan is a component in Cypridina luciferin". Tetrahedron Letters. 43 (12): 2389–2392.
doi:
10.1016/S0040-4039(02)00257-5.