When was bioluminescence discovered

In the late s, marine biologist Steven Haddock paid a visit to fellow scientist Osamu Shimomura at his laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The two researchers shared an obsession with bioluminescence: light produced by chemical reactions in the bodies of living things—most famously the firefly, but also in fungi and a multitude of ocean creatures. At one point during their meeting, Haddock recalls, Shimomura poured what appeared to be large sesame seeds out of a jar and into his hand, dribbled some water onto them, and crushed them into a paste in his fist.

Then he shut off the lights. His palm glowed a transfixing blue, as though it held a fairy. The sesame seeds were in fact the dried bodies of tiny crustaceans known as ostracods. Shimomura explained that during the Second World War, the Japanese army harvested huge numbers of the creatures from the ocean. The cold blue light of umihotaru sea fireflies was bright enough for soldiers to read maps and correspondence, but too dim to give away their position to nearby enemies.

Very convenient. Haddock was so enchanted by this tale that he asked Shimomura if he could take a small portion of the ostracods back to his own laboratory at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

He keeps them in a container no larger than a spice jar, which he rarely opens. The bioluminescence of ostracods, a type of crustacean, has played a unique role in maritime history, creating a light bright enough to light maps for soldiers to read. What is it about bioluminescence that we find so mesmerizing? Light, after all, is abundant. Each morning, an immense bowl of light lifts itself above the trees and rooftops, higher than birds and mountains, and spills its golden contents.

Sunlight washes over the continents and oceans, dripping down forest canopies and pooling in valleys and deserts; it splashes silently across farms and cities; it slips into our bedrooms, seeps beneath our skin, and tunnels through our eyes to illuminate the theater of the mind.

In Robert Boyle documented the air requirement for luminescence. Oxygen had not yet been discovered, but we now recognize that this air requirement was, in reality, an oxygen requirement of the process. This represented a new era in the characterization of bioluminescence rather than just its documentation. The nineteenth century brought scientific voyages such as that of H. Challenger Later in that century Raphael Dubois performed a significant experiment where he extracted the two key components of a bioluminescent reaction and was able to generate light.

He coined the terms "luciferine" and the heat labile "luciferase". One of the most eminent scientists of the twentieth century was a "Princeton Professor" E. Newton Harvey He spent much of his life looking for the existence of a luciferin-luciferase system in virtually every luminous organism that he could find Harvey, The first luciferin was isolated in Green and McElroy, The first photoprotein to be isolated was the calcium-activated photoprotein aequorin in the 's Shimomura et al.

This report also noted that a "green protein" was present in the extracts from which the aequorin was purified, although the green-fluorescent protein GFP itself, was not recognized as the source of the bioluminescence in the jellyfish at that time. References Boyle, R. Bioluminescence pictured left has fueled folklore legends for thousands of years.

From the eight-century Japanese Hotaru firefly legend to the Apache Indian firefly origin of fire celebration, the origin of bioluminescence continues to inspire awe and wonder. Describing myths and legends with a natural explanation is what drives scientists. Matthew Davis , evolution biologist at St. Cloud State University , Minnesota, investigated the origin of bioluminescence across ray-finned fishes using new genetic evidence.

Bioluminescence is mostly a marine phenomenon, as Davis explains —. New genetic evidence points to multiple rather than a common ancestor.

Davis explains —. Irishman Robert Boyle — pictured below is one of the early scientists to study the phenomenon of bioluminescence. As a founding member of the Royal Society , Boyle discovered the relationship between air and luminescence. The wonder of bioluminescence captivated Charles Darwin. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorous. Since then, the group of small light-emitting protein molecules, known as luciferins , are found widely among animals, especially in the open sea.

Bioluminescence is the molecular light-emitting process of a living organism. Luciferin, luciferase, and molecular oxygen are the critical reacting molecules producing bioluminescence — the release of light energy is the product of an enzyme -catalyzed chemical reaction. Luciferase, the enzyme, transfers an electron from oxygen resulting in the emission of light, a visible photon , and the formation of oxyluciferin.

While generally known as chemiluminescence , this reaction is known as bioluminescence. Species-specific cofactor often facilitates the enzymatic reaction that is diagrammatically —.

As an oxidoreductase enzyme, luciferase oxidizes luciferin by incorporating oxygen into the molecule. Light emission stems from the transfer of the oxidation energy at a species-specific wavelength.

Luciferin is the substrate , and luciferase is the enzyme catalyzing and accelerating the chemical reaction. Luciferin-associated bioluminescence is a global phenomenon occurring in all the major biological groups. Although the worldwide number of species is not known, there are seventy-five known bioluminescent species in the Fungi Kingdom , alone.

Earliest records of bioluminescence were recorded as observations of marine life, glowworms and fireflies. Over time, however, recordings started to evolve from being purely observational to becoming more experimental. In the 17 th century , three modes of thought fueled the scientific revolution and an interest in luminescence: scientific methodology became more disciplined birth of the scientific method , there was growing interest in the scientific explanation of light, and an emphasis on experimentation as a means of acquiring knowledge.

Over the decades collective observations regarding bioluminescence were published, and hypotheses were produced. Bioluminescence has struck wonder within humanity for millennia. Ancient poetry from China referenced animal light , which historians and researchers believe to be the very first documented references to bioluminescence. It was the Greeks and Romans who began recording more explicit observations. The first Greek reference to marine phosphorescence date back to BCE with descriptions of marine observations.

Aristotle — BCE recorded bioluminescence in detail. During his study, he discovered these organisms were capable of self-luminosity. And he was the first to reveal light, in this sense, is not associated with heat. A term coined, cold light. So far, recordings of bioluminescence up into the middle ages are still recordings and speculations with no scientific experimentation to provide evidence for any assumptions.

Conrad Gessner was a 16 th century natural history professor in Zurich. Among topics in this book were bioluminescent animals, plants, and even observations of luminous stones. This book, like many others during these centuries, was a collection of historical observations.

Gessner, as well as other 15 th century scholars, continued to believe in the existence of luminous birds. A German priest by the name Athanasius Kircher published a book abundant in information about luminescence. He believed, bioluminescence in animals served a purpose, allowing them to be seen.

In further experiments, he found luminescence could be transferred. His experiments also demonstrated that firefly light does not glow indefinitely Lee,