Bioluminescent

Biology and medicine

Bioluminescent organisms are a target for many areas of research. Luciferase systems are widely used in genetic engineering as reporter genes, and for biomedical research using bioluminescence imaging. For example, the firefly luciferase gene was used as early as 1986 for research using transgenic tobacco plants. Vibrio bacteria symbiose with marine invertebrates such as the Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymna scolopes), are key experimental models for bioluminescence. Bioluminescent activated destruction is an experimental cancer treatment.