Hello everyone, today I will talk about a topic that I am extremely fascinated with, I came to know about it since I was really young through stories but I didn’t know that it was a real thing that was given red by science. Have you ever heard of fireflies ? I guess yes, in books, or movies. Well the one thing that we were all fascinated about in fireflies was the shiny, golden light that came out of it. 

Have you ever wondered how an insect or fly emit light does it involve the same phenomenon as the light bulb well actually no. The nature has mysterious creations and this creation of emission of light is Bioluminescence. “It means production and emission of light by a living organism”. It is a form of chemiluminescence.Now let’s see where it occurs mostly-  Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, in dinoflagellates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies.

Now let’s go a little deep as to why this happens, upon learning in a chemistry class about block elements I came across the component luciferin well what is it. Let’s see, “bioluminescence involves a light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called luciferin and luciferase, respectively. Because these are generic names, luciferins and luciferases are often distinguished by including the species or group, e.g. firefly luciferin. In all characterized cases, the enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of the luciferin.” If you are a chemistry student you would have heard of Robert Boyle, he was the same chemist that showed how this phenomenon also included the presence of oxygen in it. 

Now that we are well aware of how this works let’s see how it helps and affects the environment. The bioluminescence has several features most important one is it is used as defence mechanism, misdirection, distraction, and warning to alert settler can be used to stun or confuse prey, and also mate.

We know how bioluminescence is beneficial to the animals but have you wondered if it’s used somewhere else also, yes it is used in the field of Biotechnology. Bioluminescent organisms are a target for many areas of research. Luciferase systems are widely used in genetic engineering, each producing a different colour by fluorescence and for biomedical research using bioluminescence imaging. These organisms that are bioluminescent are also being investigated for the purpose of light production as this bioluminescence could be used to reduce the need for traditional lighting. Sources quoted- wikipedia, ocean.si.edu

I was extremely excited to learn about this new phenomenon and I hope you are too. Let me know where you first learnt about fireflies and how did this article change your perspective on the bioluminescence.

Green Cheers,

Anoushka