Which enzyme is responsible for producing light in the Pyrosequencing process?

In the Pyrosequencing process, luciferase plays a crucial role in producing light, which is an essential part of the detection mechanism that allows for the identification of nucleotides incorporated during DNA sequencing.

Luciferase is an enzyme that catalyzes a bioluminescent reaction involving luciferin, leading to the release of light as part of the energy conversion process. In Pyrosequencing, when a nucleotide is incorporated into the growing DNA strand by DNA polymerase, the subsequent pyrophosphate released from this reaction is converted to ATP. The ATP then serves as a substrate for luciferase, producing light in a measurable form. This light is proportional to the number of nucleotides added, allowing for the determination of the DNA sequence.

Understanding the role of luciferase is vital in the context of Pyrosequencing as it illustrates the principles of bioluminescence in DNA sequencing and illustrates how this technique differs from others that might rely more heavily on fluorescent or radioactive labeling.