Aequorea Victoria - Luminescence

Luminescence

This jellyfish is capable of producing flashes of blue light by a quick release of calcium (Ca2+) which interacts with the photoprotein aequorin. The blue light produced is in turn transduced to green by the now famous green fluorescent protein (GFP). Both aequorin and GFP are important tools used in biological research.

In 1961, Shimomura and Johnson isolated the protein aequorin, and its small molecule cofactor, coelenterazine, from large numbers of Aequorea jellyfish at Friday Harbor Laboratories. They discovered, after initially finding bright luminescence on adding seawater to a purified sample, that calcium ions (Ca2+) were required to trigger bioluminescence. This research also marked the beginning of research into green fluorescent protein which was summarized by Shimomura. In 1967, Ridgeway and Ashley microinjected aequorin into single muscle fibers of barnacles, and observed transient calcium ion-dependent signals during muscle contraction.

For his research into GFP, Osamu Shimomura was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for chemistry, together with Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien.