A Comprehensive Exploration of Bioluminescence Systems, Mechanisms, and Advanced Assays for Versatile Applications

Table 4

Applications of bioluminescence in current research.

Type of application	Description	References
Reporter gene expression	In living subjects, for studying the magnitude, time variation, and location of reporter gene expression, an improved PET reporter gene tk (HSV1-sr39 thymidine kinase), and rl (Renilla luciferase, a bioluminescence optical reporter gene) are used	[112]
Assessing cell signaling pathways	NanoLuc luminescence has been documented as a tool for detecting both the overall levels of native target proteins and phosphorylation in unaltered cells through immunodetection	[113]
Bioluminescence-induced photo-uncaging of small molecules	The NanoLuc-Halotag chimera protein (H-Luc) induces BRET to a coumarin substrate, activating the coumarin’s excited state. This activation, in turn, initiates hydrolysis, leading to the release of a caged target molecule	[114]
Bioluminescence-based photodynamic therapy (PDT)	Self-luminescent photodynamic therapy systems are used with potentials against viral infections	[115]
Bioluminescence imaging	In vivo glucose uptake evaluation
	To noninvasive and real-time longitudinal imaging of glucose absorption in in vivo and in vitro, a novel bioluminescent glucose uptake probe (BiGluc) has been used	[116]
	As a technique to measure water pressure
	Pyrocystis lunula has been used as a biological pressure sensor to measure the impulsive dynamic water pressure produced using weight-drop tests	[117]
	To study lung diseases
	The expression of Photinus luciferase has been used to evaluate nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in rat models. By detecting the timing, distribution, and intensity, lung activities and inflammatory responses have been studied	[118]
	Cancer studies
	Mouse xenograft model with bioluminescent Karpas-299 lymphoma cells has been used observed specific inhibition of lymphoma cell growth, and TAE684 exhibited potently	[119]
	In the exploration of T-cell priming events within secondary lymphoid tissues, luciferase-positive murine T regulatory cells (tregs) have been employed in an allogeneic bone marrow transplant model	[120]
	To study infectious diseases
	Bioluminescent Listeria monocytogenes has been used to study pregnancy-related fetal infections	[121]
	Expression of firefly luciferase has been used to study infection by gamma-herpesviruses	[122]
	Bioluminescent Neisseria meningitidis has been used to monitor bacterial sepsis (sepsis disease, a meningitis-like disease, and a mild disease) in CD46 transgenic mice in real time	[123]
	Bacterial luxCDABE operon has been used to investigate parasite stage conversion and spore germination during infections	[124]
	To study cardiovascular diseases
	To observe left anterior descending (LAD) artery ligation, murine embryonic stem (ES) cells with bioluminescence activity have been used	[125]
	To track surviving embryonic stem cells for up to 8 weeks, BLI is used	[121]
	To study central nervous system disorders
	Transgenic mice have been used, and bioluminescent output from the main OBs (olfactory bulbs) of period1-FLuc has been tested	[126]
	To identify protein-protein interaction modulators
	To quantify receptor ligand-binding events and their downstream signaling cascades, BRET and split luciferase assays are widely used	[127]