We have seen the fireflies emitting light during the summer’s night; likewise, numerous living organisms emit light, and the phenomenon is known as bioluminescence. The bioluminescent organisms are spectacular creations of Mother Nature. The luminous organisms belong to various categories like plant kingdom, animals, fungi, and bacteria. They are found in both terrestrial and ocean environments. The light-emitting property is attributed to different chemical reactions. Among the fungi, there are about 97 taxa of bioluminescent fungi have been documented to date globally. The luminescent properties of these light-emitting organisms can be used to generate glowing plants.
Recently discovered bioluminescent mushroom in India.
The meager reports are available regarding the bioluminescent fungi from India. India is the home of abundant and rich biodiversity. Recently, a bioluminescent mushroom (Roridomyces Phyllostachys) was documented from the East Khasi and West Jayantia hills of Meghalaya, a North Eastern state of India. This luminescent fungus was found growing on dead bamboo stems of bamboo forests in North East India. This is the first report of a bioluminescent mushroom from India belonging to the genus Roridomyces. The species belonging to this genus love moist conditions for their growth.
What makes them glow?
The answer lies in the enzyme luciferase, which catalyzes the luciferin substrate present in the fruiting bodies or mycelium in the oxygen presence. Due to this chemical reaction, numerous unstable products are emitted as energy and make them glow. The bioluminescent mushrooms emit green light in the visible range of 520-530 nm. The luminescence of these glowing mushrooms happens mainly during night hours. The end product, like oxyluciferin, is the key component behind the bioluminescent mushrooms' magic glow. The luciferin is the same chemical compound found in aquatic creatures and fireflies.
These luminous mushrooms' light-emitting function helps them attract insects and ultimately results in their propagation by spore dispersal.
What are the potential applications of luminous mushrooms?
The unraveling of the mystery behind the glowing magic of bioluminescent fungi has yielded several potential technological advances like generations of fluorescent proteins as encoded labels.
Pyro-sequencing: for the screening of antifungal resistant hotspots. It could be helpful to explore the medicinal properties of wild mushrooms. It is a DNA sequencing technique, and different enzymes are involved in this approach like luciferase, DNA polymerase I, Apyrase, and ATP sulfurylase. This approach helps screen unknown mutations, single nucleotide polymorphism based genotyping, genotyping of bacteria, viruses, and expressed sequence tag sequencing.
Creating glowing plants: The fungal bioluminescent pathway can be implanted into the plant system to make them glow. It could help to create self-illuminating Christmas trees. Recently, researchers successfully transferred the four genes from a bioluminescent mushroom (Neonothopanus nambi) into the plant system and created the glowing tobacco plants. These integrated genes convert caffeic acid into luciferin substrate, which emits light.
The emitting light can be utilized as a biosensor or bio-indicator for diseases and heavy metals.
Numerous bioluminescent mushrooms have pharmaceutical and nutritional attributes.
Many of the bioluminescent mushrooms follow the circadian clock mechanism.
The bioluminescent pathway has evoked instrumental results for improving medicinal and bio-engineering applications.
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