Bioluminescence
Introduction-
Bioluminescence, the entity we all wish to witness, the magic of the Maldives and the many seas which surround us. Captured by countless around the globe, it is one of the many wonders of the ocean, and a beautiful representation of the power of science and how it can be perceived by us all.
Where is it found?
The ocean is the most common habitat for bioluminescent creatures. Fish, bacteria, and jellies are among the marine creatures that are bioluminescent. On land, it is found in several types of invertebrates, including insects, fungus, and bacteria. Fireflies and fungi are two examples of the bioluminescent creatures that may be found on land. Freshwater ecosystems are almost entirely devoid of natural bioluminescent organisms.
History and discovery
Aristotle and Pliny the Elder both remarked that often moist wood emits light. Robert Boyle demonstrated several decades later that oxygen had a role in the process, in both wood and glowworms. The study of bioluminescence did not begin until the late eighteenth century.
The study began when mine workers discovered a safe source of illumination was bottles containing fireflies.
Soon afterwards, The Nature of Animal Light, a monograph by American naturalist E. Newton Harvey, summarized earlier research on bioluminescence; this monograph was published in 1920.
While traveling on one particularly dark night, Charles Darwin spotted bioluminescence in the water and wrote about it in his journal:
“While sailing in these latitudes on one very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon, from the reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so utterly obscure, as over the rest of the heavens.”
Darwin often made predictions, and had predicted that a disturbed electrical condition of the atmosphere was most likely responsible for this phenomenon. Unfortunately, he was proven wrong soon afterwards.
The United States Navy was also interested in bioluminescence during the Cold War because submarines in certain waters may produce a light that is bright enough to be seen; a German submarine was sunk in the First World War after being seen. In order to steer their own submarines to escape detection, the navy was interested in anticipating when such discovery might be possible.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, bioluminescence research was conducted by the French pharmacologist Raphael Dubois. In addition to the marine bivalve mollusc Pholas Dactylus, he also researched click beetles (Pyrophorus). He disproved the conventional thinking that bioluminescence originated from phosphorus and showed that the phenomenon was connected to the oxidation of a particular substance, which he termed luciferin, by an enzyme.
Finally, Osamu Shimomura, a young Japanese scientist, was the first to obtain crystalline luciferin. It took him ten additional years to figure out the chemical's structure and publish his 1957 study, Crystalline Cypridina Luciferin, even though he utilized the marine firefly Vargula Hilgendorfii. Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien received the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of the green fluorescent protein in 1961 and the subsequent use of the substance as a tool for biological study.
Science behind bioluminescence-
Light produced by a chemical reaction within a biological organism is known as bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is a "cold light." (Meaning less than 20% of the light generates thermal radiation, or heat.)
Luciferin and either luciferase or photoprotein are the two distinct chemicals required for the chemical reaction that causes bioluminescence.
The substance that generates light is called luciferin. Luciferin is known as the substrate in this reaction. The arrangement of luciferin molecules produces the bioluminescent hue, which is yellow in fireflies and greenish in lanternfish.
Photo reference- https://www.bioluminescencehub.org/BLOGfaqs
Some organisms produce it on their own and some absorb it instead of synthesizing it.
Luciferase is an enzyme (can be seen above)
Oxyluciferin is a byproduct created when the luciferase interacts with oxidized (oxygen-added) luciferin. Light is produced by the chemical process.
Luciferin and luciferase are involved in the majority of bioluminescent reactions.
However, certain processes don't require an enzyme (luciferase). A substance known as a photoprotein is involved in these processes.
Photoproteins combine with luciferins and oxygen, but they also require another substance—often a calcium ion—in order to create light.
Uses of bioluminescence-
Animals employ bioluminescence for a variety of purposes, such as counterillumination camouflage, mimicking other species to entice prey, and communicating to members of the same species, such as to attract mates. Luciferase-based systems are employed in genetic engineering and biological research in the laboratory. A bioluminescent plant has been developed, and researchers are looking at the idea of employing bioluminescent systems for aesthetic and public lighting.
Photo reference- https://scitechdaily.com/the-role-of-bioluminescence-in-nature/
What is responsible for the beauty of the crashing waves?
The dinoflagellates in the sea's surface layers, which are responsible for the dazzling phosphorescence occasionally observed at night in disturbed water, may be the most often encountered bioluminescent creatures.
Photo reference- https://www.timeforkids.com/g34/bioluminescence/?rl=en-740
Sea of Stars, Maldives-
The “Sea Of Stars” is a beautiful phenomenon that occurs in the reefs of the Maldives during late summer, caused by bioluminescent phytoplankton called Lingulodinium polyedrum.
Similar to certain fireflies, stress brought on by the motion of the water and waves causes the plankton to generate light, or bioluminescence, as a defense mechanism. The bioluminescent light radiates wider with each wave break and has an electrifying, blue-neon color.
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