The luxCDABE operon of the bioluminescent bacterium
Photorhabdus luminescens is commonly used as a
transcriptional reporter to facilitate the quantification of gene
expression.
The lux genes essential for luminescence are arranged in a single
operon, luxCDABE. luxCDE encode a fatty acid reductase complex
involved in synthesis of the fatty aldehyde substrate for the
luminescence reaction catalysed by the luciferase LuxAB subunits.
Cells that express the cluster emit the 490-nm light spontaneously.
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