Bioluminescent assay of Phospholipase C Using A Luminescent Marine Mutant Bacterium Vibrio harveyi M-17

A bioluminescent assay method for detecting the activity of phospholipase C(PLC; phosphatidyl choline cholinephosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.4.3) was developed using bioluminescent marine bacteria. Phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus and sn-1,2- dimyristoyl glycerol was further hydrolyzed with lipase from Candida ecylidracea. The hydrolyzed myristic acid was quantified using a dark mutant of Vibrio harveyi (designated as M-17). The in vivo light intensity of which was stimulated specifically up to one thousand fold in the presence of myristic acid. The rates of the hdrolysis of the DMPC substrate by the phospholipase measured by the luminescence method were linear with time and the were estalished to detect as little as 0.1 mUnit of phospholipase C and 5 nM of myristic acid production.