SECRETION OF FIREFLY LUCIFERASE IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI

A DNA segment carrying the full-length, intronless firefly luciferase gene was inserted into the high expression secretion vector, pIN-III - ompA. Upon induction of gene expression, luciferase activity was detec ted in extracts prepared from periplasmic fractions. The results indic ated that the OmpA signal peptide was able to direct secretion of fire fly luciferase across the cytoplasmic membrane. This has important imp lications for using this luciferase as a reporter in studying protein export and targeting.