ABSTRACT
I. Overview 96
II. Introduction 96
III. Luciferase and Related Proteins 98
A. Coeloptera Luciferases 98
B. Luciferases from Marine Organisms 100
C. Bacterial Luciferases 100
D. Other Luciferases 102
IV. Luciferins and Biodistribution In Vivo 102
V. Instrumentation Used in BLI 103
VI. Multifunctional Reporter Genes 104
VII. Validation of In Vivo Data Using
Ex Vivo Assays 105
VIII. Applications of BLI in the Lung 105
A. Monitoring Infection of the Lung 105
B. Lung Metastasis 106
C. Gene Transfer to the Lung 106
IX. Summary and Future Outlook 108
Acknowledgments 108
References 108
I. Overview
A number of imaging modalities have been recently described, which allow
spatiotemporal analyses of cellular and molecular changes to be monitored in
living animals. These tools have been developed to enable the investigator to
follow biological changes over time and in the context of intact organ systems.
One of these modalities is based on the use of light emitting enzymes that, as a
class, are referred to as luciferases. The light emitted from the enzymatic reac-
tions is referred to as bioluminescence, and in vivo bioluminescence imaging
(BLI) is based on detecting this light externally. BLI is versatile with reported
applications in the fields of oncology, infectious disease, physiology, gene
expression, and therapy (1-5). Moreover, this imaging modality is readily acces-
sible to biologists because of its relative low instrumentation costs and ease of use
relative to other imaging modalities. The principles and practices of this modality
and representative applications for the study of lung biology and pathogenesis are
the focus of this chapter.
