Bioluminescence: biodiversity; metabolic origin; luciferases structure/function and engineering; application in biosensors, bioassays and environmental bioindication

• Grant number: 23/16675-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2030
• 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
• Pesquisadores principais: Cassius Vinicius Stevani ; Elaine Cristina Mathias da Silva
• Associated researchers: Aldo Roda ; Antonio Gilberto Ferreira ; Atílio Tomazini Júnior ; Carl Johnson ; Cristiana Caliceti ; Eliana Aparecida de Rezende Duek ; Iseli Lourenço Nantes Cardoso ; Jaqueline Rodrigues da Silva ; Jörg Kobarg ; Luiz Felipe Lima da Silveira ; Miguel Ángel Aires Borrás ; Simone Policena Rosa ; Stéphanie Vaz Nogueira Campos ; Vanessa Rezende Bevilaqua ; Yoshihiro Ohmiya

Abstract

Bioluminescence (BL) is an important indicator of aerobic life, having served as a model for multidisciplinary studies, bringing important scientific discoveries, providing valuable bioanalytical tools and luminescent indicators. BL has the potential to meet the growing demands for increasingly faster, more sensitive and practical tests imposed by the current climate and environmental crises. Although the BL systems of some organisms are well known and applied, there are still little studied BL systems, whose biochemical elucidation could considerably expand knowledge and the range of applications. Brazil, given its rich biodiversity and pioneering BL studies, constitutes a fertile field for new discoveries, with the potential to generate new applications. Our group has already surveyed ~ 250 species of BL coleoptera in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and Amazon biomes, cloned and characterized the largest number of beetle luciferases in the world, identifying structural determinants of BL spectra, sensitivity to pH and metals. The optimization of these enzymes has allowed the development of new assays and products for different purposes. Although our studies with BL dipterans identified candidate luciferase genes and accessory proteins, the complete molecular composition of the quaternary structure of luciferases remains unclear. The identity of staphylinid luciferase and centipede photoproteins, as well as their respective luciferins, also remains unknown. This proposal aims to expand knowledge about biodiversity, investigate the origin and evolution of BL in terrestrial arthropods from metabolic pathways, the structural and functional variety of luciferases, and with these develop inputs and practical luminescent assays that sustainably meet current environmental, medical and industrial bioanalytical demands. Os objetivos específicos são: (1) levantamentos da biodiversidade em bioma Amazônico; (2) a partir desta biota, identificar, clonar e caracterizar as luciferases e proteínas acessórias, as luciferinas e compostos fluorescentes/fosforescentes de dípteros e centopeias; (3) investigar a relação entre estrutura/função e evolução de luciferases e proteínas acessórias destes artrópodes; (4) a partir destas luciferases e suas formas otimizadas desenvolver: (4.1) genes repórter emissores de luz FR/NIR e indicadores intracelulares de pH e temperatura para bioimagem e fotobiomodulação em mamíferos; (4.2) biossensores de metais tóxicos, ATP, contaminação microbiológica de alimentos e viabilidade celular miniaturizados acoplados a detecção por smartphones; (4.3) ensaios enzimáticos e (4.4) imunoensaios. (AU)