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Updated: Mar 3, 2026

Bioluminescence Imaging of NADPH Oxidase Activity in Different Animal Models
Published on: October 22, 2012
Theoretical insights into the effect of pH values on oxidation processes in the emission of firefly luciferin in
Miyabi Hiyama1, Hidefumi Akiyama1, Nobuaki Koga2
1Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan.
Abstract:
To elucidate the emission process of firefly d-luciferin oxidation across the pH range of 7-9, we identified the emission process by comparison of the potential and free-energy profiles for the formation of the firefly substrate and emitter, including intermediate molecules such as d-luciferyl adenylate, 4-membered dioxetanone, and their deprotonated chemical species. From these relative free energies, it is observed that the oxidation pathway changes from d-luciferin → deprotonated d-luciferyl adenylate → deprotonated 4-membered dioxetanone → oxyluciferin to deprotonated d-luciferin → deprotonated d-luciferyl adenylate → deprotonated 4-membered dioxetanone → oxyluciferin with increasing pH value. This indicates that deprotonation on 6'OH occurs during the formation of dioxetanone at pH 7-8, whereas luciferin in the reactant has a 6'OH-deprotonated form at pH 9.
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