Bioluminescence imaging of Cyp1a1-luciferase reporter mice demonstrates prolonged activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the lung.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signalling integrates biological processes that sense and respond to environmental, dietary, and metabolic challenges to ensure tissue homeostasis. AHR is a transcription factor that is inactive in the cytosol but upon encounter with ligand translocates to the nucleus and drives the expression of AHR targets, including genes of the cytochrome P4501 family of enzymes such as Cyp1a1. To dynamically visualise AHR activity in vivo, we generated reporter mice in which firefly luciferase (Fluc) was non-disruptively targeted into the endogenous Cyp1a1 locus.

A hybrid pathway for self-sustained luminescence.

The fungal bioluminescence pathway can be reconstituted in other organisms allowing luminescence imaging without exogenously supplied substrate. The pathway starts from hispidin biosynthesis-a step catalyzed by a large fungal polyketide synthase that requires a posttranslational modification for activity. Here, we report identification of alternative compact hispidin synthases encoded by a phylogenetically diverse group of plants.

Novel BRET combination for detection of rapamycin-induced protein dimerization using luciferase from fungus .

Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) is one of the most promising approaches used for noninvasive imaging of protein-protein interactions . Recently, our team has discovered a genetically encodable bioluminescent system from the fungus and identified a novel luciferase that represents an imaging tool orthogonal to other luciferin-luciferase systems. We demonstrated the possibility of using the fungal luciferase as a new BRET donor by creating fused pairs with acceptor red fluorescent proteins, of which tdTomato provided the highest BRET efficiency.

An improved pathway for autonomous bioluminescence imaging in eukaryotes.

The discovery of the bioluminescence pathway in the fungus Neonothopanus nambi enabled engineering of eukaryotes with self-sustained luminescence. However, the brightness of luminescence in heterologous hosts was limited by performance of the native fungal enzymes. Here we report optimized versions of the pathway that enhance bioluminescence by one to two orders of magnitude in plant, fungal and mammalian hosts, and enable longitudinal video-rate imaging.

[Experience with the use of pharmacopoeial reference material for the activity of measles vaccine].

Introduction: Due to the increased incidence of measles in Russia and in many other regions of the world, vaccines for the measles prevention are especially in demand. Ensuring the quality of the measles vaccine for effective disease prevention is within the scope of the tasks of the state policy of our country.

Objective: Evaluation of the experience of using a pharmacopoeial standard material of measles vaccine activity for measurement of the specific activity of the measles virus in vaccines with a measles component that are used in the Russian Federation for measles prevention.