Bacterial luciferase, conserved site <p> The enzyme responsible for bioluminescence in motile Gram-negative luminousbacteria is bacterial luciferase [<cite idref="PUB00028002"/>, <cite idref="PUB00001517"/>, <cite idref="PUB00028001"/>] (<db_xref db="EC" dbkey="1.14.14.3"/>), which catalyses the oxidation the oxidation of reduced riboflavin phosphate (FMNH2) and a long chain fatty aldehyde with the emission of blue green light (490 nm). Luciferase is a heterodimeric enzyme composed of an alpha subunit (gene luxA) and a beta subunit (gene luxB). The two subunits appear to have arisen by gene duplication.</p><p>The bioluminescence operon of some species of Photobacterium encodes a protein known as the non-fluorescent flavoprotein (NFP) (gene luxF). NFP, whose function is not yet known, contains an unusual non-covalently bound flavin. It is evolutionary related to the luxA/luxB subunits. More information about these proteins can be found at Protein of the Month: Luciferase [<cite idref="PUB00035854"/>].</p><p>This conserved site is located in the central part of the proteins in this entry. </p>