NSF Award
9261649
Current luminescence bioassays rely solely upon measurement of luminescence intensity to generate information.Recent success at Promega's Corporation in producing multiple colors from beetle luciferases has created the opportunity to greatly increase assay information content by using multiplexing techniques to measure light intensities at different wavelengths. This could provide greater assay reliability, precision, and ability to measure concurrent molecular events. Promega's focus on beetle luciferases stems from the excellent performance of the enzymes in bioassay methods. The assay of these enzymes, which yields the highest quantum efficiency of any luminescence methodology, demonstrates superior precision, linearity, and rapidity. To further assess the feasibility of using multiplexing to increase the commercial potential of bioluminescence assays.Promega proposes to identify novel substitutions that regulate color by examining the relationship between amino acid substitutions in the primary structures of beetle luciferases to the enzymes' spectral properties. %%% Promega anticipates development of the following commercial applications from this research: advanced genetic reporter systems for molecular biological research, immunoassay, live-cell biosensors.
