Coelenterazine-Dependent Luciferases: Properties and Application in Molecular Analysis

Abstract

This review presents the data on the structure of bioluminescent systems of marine animals that use coelenterazine-dependent luciferases as light-emitting proteins. It is shown that these luciferases and their genetic variants with new useful properties are successfully used as reporter molecules in a variety of analytical systems in vitro and in vivo due to the availability, stability, and high quantum yield of the reactions. Their application ensures a high level of sensitivity, simple design, and fast analysis.