nanobit

Glowing Testimonies: A Review of NanoLuc® Use in Model Organisms

Posted on by Kerstin Hurd
NanoLuc®

Model organisms are essential tools in the pursuit of understanding biological processes, elucidating the mechanisms of diseases, and developing potential treatments and therapies. Use of these organisms in scientific research has paved the way for groundbreaking discoveries across various fields of biology. In particular, non-mammalian models can be valuable due to characteristics such as rapid life cycles, low cost, and amenability to use with advanced genetic tools, including bioluminescent reporters such as NanoLuc® Luciferase.

NanoLuc® is a small (19.1 kDa) luciferase enzyme originating from deep sea shrimp that is 100x brighter than firefly or Renilla luciferase. It utilizes a furimazine substrate to produce its bright glow-type luminescence. In the decade following its development, the NanoLuc® toolbox has expanded to include NanoBiT® complementation, NanoBRET™ energy transfer methods, and new reagents such as the Nano-Glo® Fluorofurimazine In Vivo Substrate (FFz) which was designed for in vivo detection of NanoLuc® Luciferase, NanoLuc® fusion proteins or reconstituted NanoBiT® Luciferase. In addition to the aqueous-soluble reagents increased substrate bioavailability in vivo, with fluorofurimazine, NanoLuc® and firefly luciferase can be used together in dual-luciferase molecular imaging studies.

Here we spotlight some recent research that demonstrates how the expanded NanoLuc® toolbox can be adapted to use in non-mammalian models, shedding new light on fundamental biological processes and advancing our understanding of complex mechanisms in these diverse organisms.

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New Assay to Study SARS-CoV-2 Interaction with Human ACE2 Receptor

Posted on by Promega

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a SARS-associated coronavirus. The most recent version, SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in China in the winter of 2019 and is responsible for the current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) global pandemic. This virus and its variants have resulted in over 200 million infections and more than 4 million fatalities world-wide. To combat this deadly outbreak the global research community has responded with remarkable swiftness with the development of several vaccines and drug therapies, all produced in record time. In addition to vaccines and drug therapies, diagnostic kits and research reagents continue to roll out to track infections and to help find additional therapies.

This peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Scientific Reports by Alves and colleagues demonstrates how a new assay can be used to discover novel inhibitors that block the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to the human ACE2 receptor as well as study how mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein alter its apparent affinity towards human ACE2. The paper also details studies where the assay is used to detect the presence of neutralizing antibodies from both COVID-19 positive samples as well as samples from vaccinated individuals.

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Understanding Inflammation: A Faster, Easier Way to Detect Cytokines in Cells

Posted on by Johanna Lee

Inflammation, a process that was meant to defend our body from infection, has been found to contribute to a wide range of diseases, such as chronic inflammation, neurodegenerative disorders—and more recently, COVID-19. The development of new tools and methods to measure inflammation is crucial to help researchers understand these diseases.

This diagram shows how the Lumit™ Immuno assay can be used to detect cytokines.

Cytokines—small signaling molecules that regulate inflammation and immunity—have recently become the focus of inflammation research due to their role in causing severe COVID-19 symptoms. In these severe cases, the patient’s immune system responds to the infection with uncontrolled cytokine release and immune cell activation, called the “cytokine storm”. Although the cytokine storm can be treated using established drugs, more research is needed to understand what causes this severe immune response and why only some patients develop it.

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RNA-Protein Interactions: A New Frontier for Drug Discovery

Posted on by Jordan Villanueva

Almost 90% of the human genome is transcribed into RNA, but only 3% is ultimately translated into a protein. Some non-translated RNA is thought to be useless, while some play a significant yet often mysterious role in cancer and other diseases. Despite its abundance and biological significance, RNA is rarely the target of therapeutics.

“We say it’s undruggable, but I would say that ‘not-yet-drugged’ is a better way to put it,” says Amanda Garner, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan. “We know that RNA biology is important, but we don’t yet know how to target it.”

Amanda’s lab develops systems to study RNA biology. She employs a variety of approaches to analyze the functions of different RNAs and study their interactions with proteins. Her lab recently published a paper describing a novel method for studying RNA-protein interactions (RPI) in live cells. Amanda says that with the right tools, RPI could become a critical target for drug discovery.

“It’s amazing that current drugs ever work, because they’re all based on really old approaches,” Amanda says. “This isn’t going to be like developing a small molecule kinase inhibitor. It’s a whole new world.”

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A Bioluminescent Biosensor for Detection of Mycotoxins in Food

Posted on by Johanna Lee

3D artistic rendering of a NanoBiT assay, the system used in this study for detection of mycotoxins in food

Food contamination is a serious global health issue. According to the WHO, an estimated 600 million, almost 1 in 10 people globally, suffer from illness after eating contaminated food—and 420,000 die. Developing new technologies for more effective testing of food contaminants can help reduce that number and improve public health.

A recent application of bioluminescent technology could change the way we test for mycotoxins in the future. Dr. Jae-Hyuk Yu, Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his then graduate student, Dr. Tawfiq Alsulami, collaborated with Promega to develop a bioluminescent biosensor that enables simple and rapid detection of mycotoxins in food samples.

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NanoLuc® Luciferase Powers More than Reporter Assays

Posted on by Sara Klink
Bright NanoLuc® Luciferase

What can you do with a small, super bright luciferase? Amazing things. We’ve highlighted many of the papers and new applications that NanoLuc® luciferase has enabled on this blog. While NanoLuc® luciferase was first introduced as a reporter enzyme to assess promoter activity, its capabilities have expanded far beyond a genetic reporter, creating bioluminescent tools used to study endogeneous protein dynamics, target engagement, protein degradation, immunodetection and more. So where did the NanoLuc luciferase come from and how does one enzyme power so many research capabilities? Read further for a primer on the various technologies and applications developed from this enzyme over the last 10 years.

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From Live Cells to Lysates: Adapting NanoBiT to a Biochemical Assay Format

Posted on by Natalie Larsen

The ability to target protein interactions with low solubility or weak binding affinities can present a significant challenge when it comes to drug screening. The beauty of these types of challenges we often face in the lab is that finding solutions to these problems doesn’t necessarily require brand new tools. Sometimes we already have the right tools in our arsenal and, with just a little creativity and collaboration, they can be adapted to address the challenge at hand.

In the following video, Dr. Mohamed (Soly) Ismail, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Downward Lab of the Francis Crick Institute, presents the perfect example of this with his novel approach to the NanoBiT® Protein:Protein Interaction Assay. Through a collaboration with Promega R&D Scientists, Dr. Ismail has translated the assay into a cell-free, biochemical format, termed the NanoBiT Biochemical Assay (NBBA).

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Popular Papers from Promega Authors

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Promega is a chemistry and instrument supplier to scientists in diverse industries and research labs around the world. True. But we are more than just a supply company; we are scientists dedicated to supporting the work of other scientists. We want the science behind the technologies we develop to be both vetted and valued by the scientific community at large, which is one reason our scientists take the time to prepare and submit manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals. Here we call out some of our published research papers that were highly read in 2019. In the journal ACS Chemical Biology alone, five Promega-authored papers were among the top 10 most read papers in 2019. Here’s a quick review of the highlights from these ACS papers.

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NanoLuc: Tiny Tag with a Big Impact

Posted on by Darcia Schweitzer

Synthetic biology—genetically engineering an organism to do or make something useful—is the central goal of the iGEM competition each year. After teams conquer the challenge of cloning their gene, the next hurdle is demonstrating that the engineered gene is expressing the desired protein (and possibly quantifying the level of expression), which they may do using a reporter gene.

Reporters can also play a more significant role in iGEM projects when teams design their organism with reporter genes to detect and signal the presence of specific molecules, like environmental toxins or biomarkers. Three of the iGEM teams Promega sponsored this year opted to incorporate some version of NanoLuc® Luciferase into their projects.

NanoLuc® luciferase is a small monomeric enzyme (19.1kDa, 171 amino acids) based on the luciferase from the deep sea shrimp Oplophorus gracilirostris. This engineered enzyme uses a novel substrate, furimazine, to produce high-intensity, glow-type luminescence in an ATP-independent reaction. Unlike other molecules for tagging and detecting proteins, NanoLuc® luciferase is less likely to interfere with enzyme activity and affect protein production due to its small size.

NanoLuc® Luciferase has also been engineered into a structural complementation reporter system, NanoBiT® Luciferase, that contains a Large subunit (LgBiT) and two small subunit options: low affinity SmBiT and high affinity HiBiT. Together, these NanoLuc® technologies provide a bioluminescent toolbox that was used by the iGEM teams to address a diverse set of biological challenges.

Here is an overview of each team’s project and how they incorporated NanoLuc® technology.

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A BiT or BRET, Which is Better?

Posted on by Joliene Lindholm

Now that Promega is expanding its offerings of options for examining live-cell protein interactions or quantitation at endogenous protein expression levels, we in Technical Services are getting the question about which option is better. The answer is, as with many assays… it depends! First let’s talk about what are the NanoBiT and NanoBRET technologies, and then we will provide some similarities and differences to help you choose the assay that best suits your individual needs.

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