Development of bioluminescent reagents for immunoassays, environmental analyisis and bioimaging

• Grant number: 22/04800-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Radiology and Photobiology
• Principal Investigator: Vadim Viviani
• Grantee: Vadim Viviani
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Sorocaba
• Associated researchers: Iseli Lourenço Nantes Cardoso
• Associated research grant(s): 23/14881-0 - Use of engineered color tuning luciferases for intracellular pH analysis and temperature sensing in mammalian cells, AP.R SPRINT

Abstract

Bioluminescence, the emission of cold, visible light by luciferin-luciferase reactions of certain organisms, has been used for several decades for bioanalytical purposes in scientific research, medical, industrial and environmental analysis. Luciferase enzymes from fireflies and their genes are used as luminescent reagents in kits, bioluminescent probes for cell labeling, biosensors, to assess water quality, microbiological contamination of food, beverages and other industrial products, disease diagnosis, and for antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer drugs by the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. In general, these applications use imported products and technologies. The Laboratory of Biochemistry and Bioluminescent Technologies at UFSCAR has been outstanding in the biochemical study of arthropod bioluminescence, especially the structure and function of luciferases cloned from bioluminescent beetles from Brazilian biomes, having identified the structural determinants of bioluminescence spectra, pH sensitivity and metals and their molecular evolution. Building on the knowledge generated with these enzymes, we are now developing luciferases with optimized light emission properties (catalytic efficiency, emission kinetics, bioluminescence spectra and sensitivity to pH and metals) for purposes of use as reagents, such as intracellular pH biosensors and heavy metal sensor proteins, such as reporter genes for bioimaging, and more recently for bioluminescent immunoassays, including diagnostic applications for SARS-Covid-2. In this project we plan to continue to develop more sensitive cadmium and mercury luciferases and field miniaturized bioluminescent biosensors based on smartphone technology, build new secondary antibodies for miniaturized bioluminescent immunoassays, and develop more efficient and far red shifted reporter genes for bioluminescence imaging purposes of biological and pathological processes in mammalian cells in biomedical research. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VIVIANI, VADIM R.; ROSA, SIMONE P.; PRADO, ROGILENE A.; PELENTIR, GABRIEL F.; DE SOUZA, DANIEL R.; REIS, RAONE M.; BECHARA, E. J. H.; COSTA, C.. Inventory and ecological aspects of bioluminescent beetles in the Cerrado ecosystem and its decline around Emas National Park (Brazil). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, v. N/A, p. 18-pg., 2023-10-04. (10/05426-8, 22/04800-0)

BEVILAQUA, VANESSA R.; PELENTIR, GABRIEL F.; HAUSEN, MOEMA A.; DUEK, ELIANA A. R.; VIVIANI, VADIM R.. Selection and Engineering of Novel Brighter Bioluminescent Reporter Gene and Color- Tuning Luciferase for pH-Sensing in Mammalian Cells. BIOSENSORS-BASEL, v. 15, n. 1, p. 13-pg., 2025-01-01. (22/03538-0, 22/04800-0, 17/22262-8, 20/09917-8, 20/07649-6)

VIVIANI, VADIM R.. Biophosphorescence in fluorescent millipedes (Diplopoda: Xystodesmidae) and its relationships with bioluminescence. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 13, n. 1, p. 10-pg., 2023-12-13. (10/05426-8, 22/04800-0)

VIRGENS, GRAZIELA SORIA; SILVA, JAQUELINE RODRIGUES; VIVIANI, VADIM R.; AMARAL, DANILO TRABUCO. Decoding bioluminescence in Keroplatinae: computational insights from inverse virtual screening and the transcriptome of Orfelia fultoni. PHOTOCHEMICAL & PHOTOBIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v. N/A, p. 6-pg., 2025-06-19. (22/04800-0, 22/09910-9)