Posttranslationally caused bioluminescence burst of the Escherichia coli luciferase reporter strain.

We continuously monitored bioluminescence from a wild-type reporter strain of Escherichia coli (lacp::luc+/WT), which carries the promoter of the lac operon (lacp) fused with the firefly luciferase gene (luc+). This strain showed a bioluminescence burst when shifted into the stationary growth phase. Bioluminescence profiles of other wild-type reporter strains (rpsPp::luc+ and argAp::luc+) and gene-deletion reporter strains (lacp::luc+/crp- and lacp::luc+/lacI-) indicate that transcriptional regulation is not responsible for generation of the burst. Consistently, changes in the luciferase protein levels did not recapitulate the profile of the burst. On the other hand, dissolved oxygen levels increased over the period across the burst, suggesting that the burst is, at least partially, caused by an increase in intracellular oxygen levels. We discuss limits of the firefly luciferase when used as a reporter for gene expression and its potential utility for monitoring metabolic changes in cells.

Firefly luciferase as the reporter for transcriptional response to the environment in Escherichia coli.

We demonstrate that firefly luciferase is a good reporter in Escherichia coli for transcription dynamics in response to the environment. E. coli strains, carrying a fusion of the promoter of the ycgZ gene and the coding region of the luciferase gene, showed transient bioluminescence on receiving blue light. This response was compromised in mutants lacking known regulators in manners consistent with each regulator's function. We also show that relA, a gene encoding a (p)ppGpp synthetase, affects ycgZ dynamics when nullified. Moreover, two unstable luciferase variants showed improved response dynamics and should be useful to study quick changes of gene expression.