Shining the light: the mechanism of the bioluminescence reaction of calcium-binding photoproteins Review Article

The Cat2+-binding photoproteins from jellyfish have the unique ability to emit blue light in the presence of calcium ions but without molecular oxygen or any other cofactor. Although there is no crystallographic data on the structure of the photoprotein complex, structure-activity studies have elucidated many features of the complex and many aspects of the mechanism of the bioluminescence reaction.