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Luminescent bacteria emit light as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy. Luminescent bacteria exist as symbiotic organisms carried within a larger organism, such as many deep sea organisms, including the Lantern Fish, the Angler fish, certain jellyfish, certain clams and the Gulper eel.
Bioluminescent bacteria are light-producing bacteria that are predominantly present in sea water, marine sediments, the surface of decomposing fish and in the gut of marine animals. While not as common, bacterial bioluminescence is also found in terrestrial and freshwater bacteria. [ 1 ]
Small extracellularly secreted molecules stimulate the bacteria to turn on genes for light production when cell density, measured by concentration of the secreted molecules, is high. [34] Pyrosomes are colonial tunicates and each zooid has a pair of luminescent organs on either side of the inlet siphon. When stimulated by light, these turn on ...
Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction regulated by a gene or bacteria that enables living organisms to produce light naturally. Over 90 percent of marine organisms are bioluminescent -- algae ...
Deep sea organisms have evolved to produce light to lure and catch prey, as camouflage, or to attract others. Some bacteria even use bioluminescence to communicate. The common colors for the light emitted by these animals are blue and green because they have shorter wavelengths than red and can transmit more easily in water.
Luciferase is a generic term for the class of oxidative enzymes that produce bioluminescence, and is usually distinguished from a photoprotein.The name was first used by Raphaël Dubois who invented the words luciferin and luciferase, for the substrate and enzyme, respectively. [1]
The bioluminescence can be produced from compounds during the digestion of prey, from specialized mitochondrial cells in the organism called photocytes ("light producing" cells), or, similarly, associated with symbiotic bacteria in the organism that are cultured. [citation needed]
Photosynthesis occurs in two stages. In the first stage, light-dependent reactions or light reactions capture the energy of light and use it to make the hydrogen carrier NADPH and the energy-storage molecule ATP. During the second stage, the light-independent reactions use these products to capture and reduce carbon dioxide.