Abstract
Bioluminescence is a biochemical property of living organisms which involves the generation and emission of light through chemical reactions in vivo and/or in vitro in the body of the organism. Since discovering this unique feature in a decaying fish by Robert Boyle (1668), several studies have explored this phenomenon in different organisms, the mechanism, and applications of bioluminescence. This chapter highlights the various luminous bacteria, their habitat, and their symbiotic interaction with other organisms. In principle, bioluminescence takes place in the presence of a luciferase enzyme as a catalyst for the oxidation of luciferin to emit a blue-green visible light. This property of light-emitting bacteria has been widely applied in different fields, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP) sensing, hygiene control, mapping pollution in ecosystems, preservation of artwork, gene assay, in vivo imaging, disease therapy, and sensing organic and inorganic molecules. Although advances have been made in the study of bioluminescence, the key limitations that may inform future research direction include the confines of applying bioluminescence imaging to plant metabolites, proteins and physiology. Additionally, several synthetic and natural luciferins have limitations because of their low bioavailability, stability, and cell compatibility.