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A bioluminescent system of fungi: prospects for application in medical research

About authors

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry,
Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Aleksandr S. Shcheglov
ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, d. 16/10, Moscow, Russia, 117997; ur.liam@trakuj

About paper

Funding: this work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Project ID RFMEFI61317X0062.

Received: 2017-12-15 Accepted: 2017-12-27 Published online: 2018-03-05
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Bioluminescence is chemical oxidation of a small luciferin molecule by air catalyzed by luciferase and accompanied by the emission of photons in the visible spectrum. This reaction is used in bioluminescent bioimaging, the method for the visualization of organism’s interior. Bioimaging is a popular tool used in medical research. However, it has an unfortunate drawback: it requires introduction of external luciferin to the system before every experiment. In this work we discuss a possibility of developing an autonomous luminescent system in eukaryotes based on the bioluminescent system of higher fungi.

Keywords: photodynamic therapy, bioluminescence, bioimaging, tumor models in vivo

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