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Use of the firefly luciferase gene as a reporter of gene expression in plants

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Plant Molecular Biology Manual

Abstract

The firefly luciferase gene (luc) from Photinus pyralis is a new tool for visualizing gene expression in plants. Luciferase (LUC) catalyzes the ATP-dependent oxidative decarboxylation of luciferin, a reaction that produces light. The reaction catalyzed by luciferase from P. pyralis produces a yellow-green light at pH 7.5–8.5 with a peak emission at 560 nm [2]. The luc gene encodes a single, catalytically active polypeptide of 62 kDa [11]. The cDNA for luc was cloned from P. pyralis by de Wet et al. [3] and has been expressed in bacterial, plant, and animal cells [3, 4, 9].

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References

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

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Howell, S.H., Ow, D.W., Schneider, M. (1989). Use of the firefly luciferase gene as a reporter of gene expression in plants. In: Gelvin, S.B., Schilperoort, R.A., Verma, D.P.S. (eds) Plant Molecular Biology Manual. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0951-9_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0951-9_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6918-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-0951-9

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