Recent Advances in Bioluminescence

Dear Colleagues,

Bioluminescence is a widespread phenomenon in nature, especially in the depths of the ocean. Representatives of luminous organisms are found among bacteria, fungi, protozoa, coelenterates, worms, molluscs, insects, and fish. Bioluminescence is a special case of a chemiluminescent reaction in which the substrate, luciferin, is oxidized, catalyzed by a specific enzyme, luciferase. Luciferins and luciferases of different organisms are different compounds and their similarity is often only functional. The interest of researchers in these objects is due not only to fundamental problems and the need to identify the general patterns underlying the conversion of the energy of the chemical bonds of the substrate into visible light energy, but also to the possibility of using bioluminescent proteins as marker molecules in various analytical applications. Coelenterazine is one of the most common substrates in marine glowing organisms and works with both luciferases and photoproteins, and firefly luciferase has a high quantum yield, so these bioluminescent proteins are the most abundant in analytics. At the same time, the search for new enzymes and substrates is constantly ongoing, as well as various modifications of already known bioluminescent proteins with desired properties are being created. The Special Issue “Recent Advances in Bioluminescence” will be devoted to the fundamental and applied problems of bioluminescence.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Study of molecular mechanisms of functioning of bioluminescent systems;
• Synthesis and application of luciferin analogues;
• Creation of analytical tools based on bioluminescent and fluorescent proteins;
• Search for new bioluminescent organisms;
• Modification of known bioluminescent proteins and substrates;
• Creation of artificial bioluminescent proteins with desired properties.

The Special Issue are now open for submissions. Prospective authors should first send a short abstract or tentative title to the Editorial Office. If the editors deem the topic to be appropriate for inclusion in one of the Special Issues, the author will be encouraged to submit a full manuscript.

Dr. Liudmila P. Burakova
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.