Chaetopterus variopedatus Bioluminescence: A Review of Light Emission within a Species Complex |
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Authors: | Jeremy D Mirza Álvaro E Migotto Ilia V Yampolsky Gabriela V de Moraes Aleksandra S Tsarkova Anderson G Oliveira |
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Institution: | 1. Departamento de Oceanografia Física, Química e Geológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, Brazil;2. Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião, Brazil;3. Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia;4. Departamento de Oceanografia Física, Química e Geológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
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Abstract: | Chaetopterus variopedatus has been studied for over a century in terms of its physiology, ecology and life history. One focus of research is on its intrinsic bioluminescent emissions, which can be observed as a blue light emitted from the extremities of individual body segments, or as a secreted mucus. Even though research shows that C. variopedatus is a species complex miscategorized as a single species, all of the variants of this polychaete produce light, which has been investigated in terms of both physiology and biochemistry. Despite decades of study, there are still many questions about the luminescence reaction, and, as of yet, no clear function for light emission exists. This review summarizes the current knowledge on C. variopedatus luminescence in addition to briefly describing its morphology, life cycle and ecology. Possible functions for luminescence were discussed using observations of specimens found in Brazil, along with a comparison of previous studies of other luminescent organisms. Further study will provide a better understanding of how and why C. variopedatus produces luminescence, and purifying the protein and luciferin involved could lead to new bioanalytical applications, as this reaction is unique among all known luminescent systems. |
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