Background: Bioluminescence technology is based on the luciferin-luciferase reaction and is generally well known as a reporter gene assay system that uses firefly luciferase. It has revolutionized the field of transcriptional analysis owing to its usability and quantitative capability. Several methods for transcription analysis have emerged in the past two decades. Recently, novel bioluminescence techniques that differ from typical approaches were developed for the detection of transcriptional regulation or direct protein-protein interactions.
Objective: As each method has its own characteristics, this review summarizes the latest bioluminescence methods that are applicable to the field of drug discovery research.
Methods: Considering the diversity of related techniques, this review covers several aspects that have been divided into the following classes: variation of reporter gene assays, secretion properties, protein-protein interaction assays in living cells and bioluminescence imaging of living cells.
Results/conclusions: The practical application of several luciferins and/or luciferases and the generation of novel applications by incorporating fluorescent molecules into bioluminescence techniques will become increasingly important because bioluminescence technology has a significant potential depending on how we use it.