A Short Story of Aequorin

摘要

One day in the fall of 1960, shortly after my arrival at Princeton from Japan, Dr. Frank Johnson showed me a small jar containing a spoonful of white powder. He explained that the powder was a freeze dried "squeezate" made from the luminous jellyfish Aequorea, and that it would emit light when mixed with water. He asked me if I would be interested in studying the bioluminescence of this jellyfish. The powder did not emit any light when moistened. But I was quite impressed by Dr. Johnson's description of the brilliant luminescence of live jellyfish and the great abundance of specimens around Friday Harbor, Washington. So my response was a definite "yes." My experience in bioluminescence research at the time was meager and limited to only the luminescent system of the ostracod Cypridina. I imagined, vaguely, that the jellyfish would probably contain a kind of luciferin and a luciferase, possibly with one of the cofactors, such as ATP, FMN, or NADH, like the fireflies, luminous bacteria, and Cypridina that were known at that time.