Bioluminescent imaging of Arabidopsis thaliana using an enhanced Nano-lantern luminescence reporter system

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 3;15(1):e0227477. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227477. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Bioluminescent detection has become a powerful method that is used extensively in numerous areas in life science research. Given that fluorescence detection in plant cells is difficult owing to the autofluorescence of chlorophyll, the use of a luciferin-luciferase system should be effective in plant biology. However, the suitable optical window for a luminescence system in plants remains unexplored. In this study, we sought to determine the optical window and optimal luciferase reporter system for terrestrial plant analyses using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism. We compared six different luciferase systems and found the green enhanced Nano-lantern (GeNL)-furimazine combination to be the optimal luciferase reporter. Spectral measurements of GeNL-furimazine showed that its luminescence peak falls within the range of optical transparency for chlorophyll and, therefore, enables greater penetration through a layer of cultured A. thaliana cells. Moreover, A. thaliana plants expressing GeNL with furimazine emitted strong luminescence, which could be detected even with the naked eye. Thus, the GeNL-furimazine combination should facilitate biological analyses of genes and cellular functions in A. thaliana and all other terrestrial plants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism*
  • Genes, Reporter*
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Luciferases / genetics*
  • Luminescent Measurements / methods*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Plasmids / metabolism

Substances

  • Luciferases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to YK.