Unrelated and sentimental but when Bowie passed away I signed one of his official 'eulogy books' and realised everything I wrote in there I could have said to the stars. And I wrote precisely that in there. I love the idea of us being made of star stuff.
Nice article but you overplayed the "subtle sparks": "The fire... comes from ... a chemical called luciferin. That luciferin is processed by ... luciferase."
All that is truism - it follows from the definitions.
Any enzyme that generates light is called a luciferase, and its substrate is called a luciferin.
In discussions of biological luminosity it's always trotted out as detailed information, but this is a category error in that implies these are a specific chemicals, not just classes of chemical.
If you want a North American bias, you could call them Photinus luciferin and Photinus luciferase if you can't find specific chemical names. And they probably differ slightly between species or genera. Do all firefly spp flash exactly the same colour? (Copilot says not)
True, both luciferin and luciferase are generic terms for a (usually relatively small) substrate and its enzyme. For fireflies, the luciferin would be (4S)-2-(6-hydroxy-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)-4,5-dihydrothiazole-4-carboxylic acid. I prefer luciferin for a post that doesn't purport to dive into the biochemical details. But a fair point.
Copilot is right. The color tends to differ between species but generally falls in the green-yellow end of the spectrum, though some are more orangey. Depends on the structure of the luciferase and pH.
What a great illustration of how small the differences are between fireflies, cosmic elements and us, humans! Our similar behaviors and gravitational pulls make us all so alike in this world. We're more similar than different to everything that surrounds us.
And this sentence is so romantic for me! "In some cases, though, the partners of a binary star system merge into a larger, more luminous star." 😍
Unrelated and sentimental but when Bowie passed away I signed one of his official 'eulogy books' and realised everything I wrote in there I could have said to the stars. And I wrote precisely that in there. I love the idea of us being made of star stuff.
That idea is such a powerful shift in perspective, isn’t it?
Nice article but you overplayed the "subtle sparks": "The fire... comes from ... a chemical called luciferin. That luciferin is processed by ... luciferase."
All that is truism - it follows from the definitions.
Any enzyme that generates light is called a luciferase, and its substrate is called a luciferin.
In discussions of biological luminosity it's always trotted out as detailed information, but this is a category error in that implies these are a specific chemicals, not just classes of chemical.
If you want a North American bias, you could call them Photinus luciferin and Photinus luciferase if you can't find specific chemical names. And they probably differ slightly between species or genera. Do all firefly spp flash exactly the same colour? (Copilot says not)
True, both luciferin and luciferase are generic terms for a (usually relatively small) substrate and its enzyme. For fireflies, the luciferin would be (4S)-2-(6-hydroxy-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)-4,5-dihydrothiazole-4-carboxylic acid. I prefer luciferin for a post that doesn't purport to dive into the biochemical details. But a fair point.
Copilot is right. The color tends to differ between species but generally falls in the green-yellow end of the spectrum, though some are more orangey. Depends on the structure of the luciferase and pH.
Sorry, it's one of my bugbears. You read it so often. Perhaps "a luciferin" would be more accurate.
It’s a good point. Made a small edit ;).
What a great illustration of how small the differences are between fireflies, cosmic elements and us, humans! Our similar behaviors and gravitational pulls make us all so alike in this world. We're more similar than different to everything that surrounds us.
And this sentence is so romantic for me! "In some cases, though, the partners of a binary star system merge into a larger, more luminous star." 😍