Cage the firefly luciferin! - a strategy for developing bioluminescent probes.

Jing Li, Laizhong Chen, Lupei Du, Minyong Li

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Natural Products (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.

Chemical Society reviews 2013 Jan 21

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Bioluminescent imaging (BLI) has been widely applicable in the imaging of process envisioned in life sciences. As the most conventional technique for BLI, the firefly luciferin-luciferase system is exceptionally functional in vitro and in vivo. The state-of-the-art strategy in such a system is to cage the luciferin, in which free luciferin is conjugated with distinctive functional groups, thus accommodating an impressive toolkit for exploring various biological processes, such as monitoring enzymes activity, detecting bioactive small molecules, evaluating the properties of molecular transporters, etc. This review article summarizes the rational design of caged luciferins towards diverse biotargets, as well as their applications in bioluminescent imaging. It should be emphasized that these caged luciferins can stretch out the applications of bioluminescence imaging and shed light upon understanding the pathogenesis of various diseases.

Citation

Jing Li, Laizhong Chen, Lupei Du, Minyong Li. Cage the firefly luciferin! - a strategy for developing bioluminescent probes. Chemical Society reviews. 2013 Jan 21;42(2):662-76