Dehydrocoelenterazine is the Organic Substance Constituting the Prosthetic Group of Pholasin

Abstract

A little light analysis: Pholasin is composed of dehydrocoelenterazine (DCL), an organic substance from the photoprotein of luminous squid. Treatment of Pholasin with excess dithiothreitol (DTT) produced a solution containing a DCL–DTT adduct, whose structure was determined by LC-MS analysis and compared with the authentic compound. This demonstrated that DCL constituted the prosthetic group of Pholasin.