Circadian Control Sheds Light on Fungal Bioluminescence

Author(s)

Oliveira, Anderson G. ^[1] ; Stevani, Cassius V. ^[2] ; Waldenmaier, Hans E. ^{[3, 2]} ; Viviani, Vadim ^[4] ; Emerson, Jillian M. ^[5] ; Loros, Jennifer J. ^[5] ; Dunlap, Jay C. ^[6]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Oceanog, Dept Oceanog Fis Quim & Geol, BR-05508120 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Quim Fundamental, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Bioquim, BR-18052780 Sorocaba, SP - Brazil

^[5] Geisel Sch Med Dartmouth, Dept Biochem, Hanover, NH 03755 - USA

^[6] Geisel Sch Med Dartmouth, Dept Genet, Hanover, NH 03755 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Current Biology; v. 25, n. 7, p. 964-968, MAR 30 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 25

Abstract

Bioluminescence, the creation and emission of light by organisms, affords insight into the lives of organisms doing it. Luminous living things are widespread and access diverse mechanisms to generate and control luminescence {[}1-5]. Among the least studied bioluminescent organisms are phylogenetically rare fungi-only 71 species, all within the similar to 9,000 fungi of the temperate and tropical Agaricales order-are reported from among similar to 100,000 described fungal species {[}6, 7]. All require oxygen {[}8] and energy (NADH or NADPH) for bioluminescence and are reported to emit green light (lambda(max) 530 nm) continuously, implying a metabolic function for bioluminescence, perhaps as a byproduct of oxidative metabolism in lignin degradation. Here, however, we report that bioluminescence from the mycelium of Neonothopanus gardneri is controlled by a temperature-compensated circadian clock, the result of cycles in content/activity of the luciferase, reductase, and luciferin that comprise the luminescent system. Because regulation implies an adaptive function for bioluminescence, a controversial question for more than two millennia {[}8-15], we examined interactions between luminescent fungi and insects {[}16]. Prosthetic acrylic resin ``mushrooms,{''} internally illuminated by a green LED emitting light similar to the bioluminescence, attract staphilinid rove beetles (coleopterans), as well as hemipterans (true bugs), dipterans (flies), and hymenopterans (wasps and ants), at numbers far greater than dark control traps. Thus, circadian control may optimize energy use for when bioluminescence is most visible, attracting insects that can in turn help in spore dispersal, thereby benefitting fungi growing under the forest canopy, where wind flow is greatly reduced. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/11578-5 - Purification and cloning of a reductase and luciferase from bioluminescent fungi.
• Grantee: Anderson Garbuglio de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 13/16885-1 - Fungal bioluminescence: species survey, mechanistic study & toxicological assays
• Grantee: Cassius Vinicius Stevani
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants