Bacterial Bioluminescence, Bioelectromagnetics and Function

Abstract

The biological functions of light emission in bacterial bioluminescence are not always obvious, especially if the bacteria are in a free-living mode. Experimental evidence suggests that light emission confers benefit to the bacteria themselves such as through photoreactivation and involves as much as 20% of cell energy metabolism. A theoretical model shows if the effect is mediated solely by light then cells should be luminescent at both high and low cell densities, therefore raising doubt over the photoreactivation hypothesis and suggesting that another cofactor is involved. It has been postulated that bioelectromagnetics may be involved in biological processes and be involved with coordinated activity in quorate cells. The cell densities associated with autoinduction coincide with a large change in coupling efficiency in the millimeter and submillimeter spectral region. In this paper it is suggested that one function of bioluminescence is as a pump, involving millimeter and submillimeter wave coupling that is of benefit to the quorum. This may be related to the observation that millimeter wave radiation exposure has been reported to induce changes in DNA conformation and possibly gene expression. Agents that change DNA conformation in bioluminescent bacteria can cause increases in light emission. This work may have implications for electromagnetic fields as quorum-quenching agents.

Effects of Hydrostatic Pressure on Growth and Luminescence of a Moderately-Piezophilic Luminous Bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum ANT-2200

“…5 B1) keep the cells close together, miming a higher cell density, and this could possibly induce a quorum-sensing response leading to higher bioluminescence intensity. This is in agreement with previous hypotheses from Pooley [48].…”

Influence of ultrahigh frequency irradiation on Photobacterium phosphoreum luxb gene expression

“…Thus, millimeter ⁄ submillimeter waves might be involved in a cooperative response within the quorum [31]. Taking into consideration these observations, implementation of electromagnetic fields as quorum-quenching agent has been proposed [32]. But it has been also suggested that expression of genes involved in bacterial luminescence might be controlled by other factors, for example SOS regulon [25].…”

Radiofrequency and microwave interactions between biomolecular systems

“…and perception of low-frequency ionic currents [1] and optical wavelength photons [2][3][4], it looks reasonable to ask whether cells or organisms have also developed an ability to use radiofrequency and microwave electromagnetic fields for communication/signaling purposes as several authors proposed [5][6][7][8][9]. Fields of the frequencies of 3 MHz up to approx.…”