BIOLUMINESCENCE (Glowing Organisms) about how the organism glow inside water for there survival and food.

1. JIWAJI UNIVERSITY, GWALIOR
SCHOOL OF STUDIES IN ZOOLOGY
TOPIC:- BIOLUMINESCENCE (Glowing Organisms)
SUBMITTED TO:-
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
SOS IN ZOOLOGY
SUBMITTED BY:-
HARDEEPAK SINGH
MSC 3 SEMESTER
rd

2. SYNOPSIS
• Introduction
• What is Bioluminescence ?
• How it Works ?
• Some Bioluminescent Organisms
• Why they do it ?
• Significances in Research
• Conclusion
• References

3. INTRODUCTION
• The fireflies produce light through a chemical reaction in their
glowing abdomens a process known as bioluminescence. Some
fish dangle a lighted lure in front of their mouths to attract prey,
while some squid shoot out bioluminescent liquid, instead of ink,
to confuse their predators. Worms and tiny crustaceans also use
bioluminescence to attract mates.
• Bioluminescent organisms live throughout the water column
from the surface to the seafloor from near the coast to the open
ocean. In the deep sea bioluminescence is extremely common
and because the deep sea is so vast bioluminescence may be the
most common form of communication on the planet !

4. WHAT IS BIOLUMINESCENCE ?
Bioluminescence is defined as the emission of light from a living organism that
functions for its survival or propagation. It is a cold light resulting from a specific
biochemical mechanism involving chemical processes often specific for that
organism
either within certain cells or organs or outside the cells in some form of excretion.
Produced by the compound luciferin and the enzyme luciferase.
Bioluminescent organisms occur mostly in the marine environment.
Bioluminescence can be thought of as a chemiluminescence that is catalyzed by an
enzyme. This light emission from an organism needs to be distinguished from other
forms of luminescence many also having biological function, fluorescence,
iridescence, diffraction etc.

5. HOW BIOLUMINESCENCE WORKS ?
All bioluminescence reactions involve an oxygen oxidation of an organic molecule
called the luciferin (protein like light producing substance). The reaction is catalyzed
by an enzyme called a luciferase and in many cases the bioluminescence intensity
is assumed to reflect the velocity of the enzyme-substrate reaction found not to
involve oxygen kinetically and these proteins were labeled “ photoproteins ".
Reaction Schemes for a luciferin / luciferase reaction (A), and for a
typical photoprotein reaction triggered by calcium (B). The reaction product is the light
(hv) emitting species, the protein-bound oxyluciferin or protein-bound coelenteramide.

6. SOME BIOLUMINESCENT ORGANISMS
Jellyfish species more than half of all produce some kind of
bioluminescence, largely as a deterrent to predators. Some even
secrete lambent mucus to further confuse potential
executioners. Aequorea victoria the jellyfish produces a green
glow around the rim of its bell by passing its initially blue light
through a compound known as Green fluorescent protein (GFP).
Deep-sea squid spurt glowing ink or mucus to confuse their
predators. The bobtail squid possess small cavities on the
underside of its body that are home to bioluminescent bacteria.
When it emerges from the sand at night the openings of the
cavities expand and contract in response to the amount of
moonlight penetrating the waves above so that its silhouette is less
visible to predators lurking below.

7. Deep-sea angler fishes tempt their prey with glowing baubles
dangling from rods in front of their mouths. Other fish combing
the murk for food are attracted to the fleshy lanterns and when
they approach are inhaled by the beast at the other end. The
males of some anglers are miniscule in comparison to the
females. Once they find a suitable undine with whom to couple
in an inversion of the misogynistic “ball and chain” relationship
idiom they attach themselves to her body which eventually
absorbs all but their testicles.
Lantern fishes has a unique pattern of light-generating
photophores used in signaling and mating. The photophores
consist of lens-shaped transparent scales covering the tissue that
emanates light these lenses help to focus and amplify the light.
Recent research has shown that lantern fishes are diversifying
more rapidly than bristlemouths another bioluminescent deep
sea species. Unlike lanternfishes , bristlemouths only use their
bioluminescence as a camouflage mechanism.

8. Fire fly One of the most familiar bioluminescent organisms is the
firefly. Fireflies light up to attract mates. Although both male and
female fireflies are bioluminescent most flashing fireflies in North
America are male . The pattern of their flashes tells nearby females
what species of firefly they are and that they're interested in mating.
The females of some species mimic the light signals of other species
luring the males to the ground and devouring them.
Brittle star can detach body parts to distract predators. The
predator follows the glowing arm of the brittle star while the
rest of the animal crawls away in the dark.
(Brittle stars, like all sea stars, can re-grow their arms.)
Bioluminescent bacteria are light-producing bacteria. The host
organisms provide these bacteria a safe home and sufficient nutrition
and the hosts use the light produced by the bacteria for camouflage,
prey and mate attraction. They evolved symbiotic relationships in
which both participants benefit close to equally. Another possible
reason bacteria use luminescence reaction is for quorum sensing an
ability to regulate gene expression in response to bacterial cell density.

9. WHY THEY DO IT ?
• Defence
• Schooling of fish
• Luminous lure
• Feeding
• Attracting prey
• Communication
• Mating
• Camouflage
As a result of its prevalence, bioluminescence plays an important
role in the ecology of the ocean. The function of bioluminescence
in the oceans is more clearly understood in the context of the
essentially dark environment below about 200m .
These are the reasons why they do it :-

10. ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN RESEARCH
• The luminescent reaction of the firefly has been used as an assay method for the
determination of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) an important metabolic substance used by
all living cells in numerous reactions in which energy is either stored or expended. The
glow of a specially blended extract of firefly lanterns eventually dims and disappears as ATP
is broken down. The addition of fresh ATP either as a pure chemical or as a constituent of a
tissue extract immediately restores the luminescence. The intensity of the glow is a direct
measure of the amount of ATP present in the extract. That assay method has been widely
used in medical and biological research to determine the amount of ATP present in extracts
of cells and tissues. The study of reactions involving ATP has led to a detailed
understanding of the mechanisms of energy conversion in cells. The firefly reaction is one
of the few reactions in which ATP is directly involved with light emission. All other
bioluminescent reactions involve compounds that are chemically distinct from ATP.

11. CONCLUSION
• The field of research in Chemical Bioluminescence is still widely unknown Bioluminescence
has the potential to be the next renewable energy resource and an environmentally friendly
warfare weapon. Molecules of bioluminescence have proved significantly important in the
medical and chemistry fields (2008 Nobel peace prize). In terms of impact on cell biology,
genetic engineering, and chemistry advancement. Although bioluminescence is common there
are still many unknown aspects of this phenomenon to be discovered.
• Animals have lots of methods for producing and using light in ways like attracting a mate,
attracting prey, deterring predators, and in hunting and with that humans are beginning to
understand the significance of bioluminescence.
• Scientists have only begun to further discover and implement useful tools that can be used in
curing and tracing the path of disease, in analyzing cellular dynamics, and to continue to
improve the inexplicable quality of human life and is a conclusion yet to be found by scientists.

12. REFERENCES
www.photobiology.info /bioluminescence.pdf
http://photobiology.info/LeeBasicBiolum.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/bioluminescence
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/bioluminescence
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281969336
https://www.scientificlights.com/home/10-interesting-facts-about-bioluminescence