Opportunities in the Living Lights

Bioluminescence is the emission of of perceptible cold light from organisms; therefore, they are recognized as living lights. Bioluminescent organisms are present everywhere on the earth predominately in the ocean. The terrestrial bioluminescent organism includes very well‐known Fireflies; microorganisms like bacteria; insects like flies and springtails. Mushrooms, earthworms, snail, centipedes, millipedes and beetles are some other terrestrial bioluminescent organisms. Attracting prey, intraspecies visual communication and escape from a predator are some major significance of bioluminescence in living organisms. Bioluminescent organisms produce light by the chemical reaction; therefore, it is known as chemiluminescence. Luciferase catalyzes the chemical oxidation of the substrate (luciferin) which leads to the emission of light. About 40 bioluminescence systems have been reported on the earth in which D‐luciferin, coelenterazine and Cypridina luciferin‐based systems are well studied. About 81 known species of bioluminescent fungi are recorded worldwide. These fungi belong to four dissimilar lineages – Omphalotus, Armillaria, mycenoid and Lucentipes. Lightening, monitoring biological process, clinical diagnosis, drug discovery, cancer research, biosensor development and immunoassays are the future scope of bioluminescence technology. Future lighting is the most exciting scope of bioluminescence technology. Recently, eukaryotic yeast cell autonomously glowed after the transfer of a genetically encoded system of bioluminescent fungus Neonothopanus nambi . The bioluminescence system of the same fungus was used to produce an engineered tobacco plant that also has the self glowing property. The fungal bioluminescence system was also successfully used as a biosensor for the environmental monitoring of mercury, copper and zinc. The virulence and growth of some fungi like Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans were real‐time monitored using bioluminescence‐based non‐invasive method in vivo. It is known as bioluminescence imaging (BLI) that allows the temporal and spatial progression of disease in living beings. So, the present chapter aims to give insights about bioluminescence in fungi, its mechanism and future scope.