Modern discovery gains a huge momentum when researchers successfully unveil the key reason of why some mushrooms glow in the dark. Once again scientists achieve a great breakthrough.
Recently a group of researchers from three different countries of the world, Brazil, Japan and Russia, has succeeded to uncover a great mystery on earth. Two types of mushrooms, Neonothopanus gardneri, and the Neonothopanus nambi are famous for their mystical characters. They grow in Brazil and Vietnam and famous for their bright glowing light in the dark, according to Phys.org.
A certain number of organisms on earth are capable of producing their own light through a certain mechanism that is called bioluminescence. After a long research, scientists explore the structure of that mechanism and unveil how it works in several insects and a series of seafaring organisms. But, how the mechanism works in fungi, like the mushrooms, was a great mystery, and recently a group of scientists has finally solved it.
Previous research studies discovered approximately 100,000 species of fungi and identified 80 of them as bioluminescent. That means these species glow in the dark in order to attract flies, ants, beetles, and other creatures. In a word, this characteristic of the mushrooms creates a great surprise.
The research study reveals that bioluminescence occurs in the mushrooms when the luciferin molecules properly interact with the luciferase enzyme. This interaction helps to produce oxyluciferin, a substance that emits light. The important fact is oxyluciferin can only be evolved if the interaction can be completed in the presence of the oxygen.
When necessary oxyluciferin releases the oxygen and it helps the luciferin to obtain its normal state. The scientists have called the luciferase enzyme "promiscuous" because the enzyme interacts with the molecule derivatives of luciferin. Researchers have also noticed that the mushrooms change their colors by limiting the amount of the luciferin. The study is available in the Science Advances.
The research study explores an interesting fact that luciferase has the potential to play the role of a reporter gene. This can create a new dimension in the arena of genetic research. Modern science is acquiring new height with every rare invention like the said one. Undoubtedly the new discovery about the mushrooms explores several opportunities to know many unknown things.
