FLUC

fLUC (Firefly Luciferase)

Firefly Luciferase (fLuc) catalyzes a two-step reaction in which oxidation of D-luciferin yields green to yellow light. Incorporating Coenzyme A (CoA) optimizes the bioluminescent reaction to yield maximal luminescence intensity that decays slowly over several minutes. The influence of CoA on fLuc generates a relatively stable and sensitive luminescence in less that 0.3 seconds.

fLuc is a convenient-to-use monomer that becomes a mature enzyme directly upon translation of its mRNA, and demonstrates catalytic activity immediately after release from the ribosome. Its relatively short half-life compared to other commonly used reporters also makes it suitable for reporting changes in gene expression over a short period of time.

fLuc is the most commonly used bioluminescent reporter. The broad usage of firefly luciferase as a genetic reporter is due to its high sensitivity and convenience of use, noninvasive nature, and the tight coupling of protein synthesis with enzyme activity.