The light of fireflies is one of the most fascinating attributes in the animal kingdom. Fireflies are a species of flying beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae, whose main characteristic is the ability to emit light, but how do they obtain that light?
It is known that bioluminescence occurs in the abdomen of these insects when oxygen from respiration combines with cells of a substance called luciferin, triggering a chemical reaction that produces the glow. But let’s be more specific.
How fireflies get their glow
Every summer, fireflies take the night sky in a show of bioluminescence from another world, emitting electric shades of green, yellow, orange, and even blue. Science knows more than 2000 species of fireflies, each with its own pattern of luminous flashes and luminous organs of different shapes.
Despite knowing many qualities about them, such as how the light is produced and how it’s used by specimens for two specific purposes: courtship and confusing potential predators, science still wonders how fireflies get their glow.
In a new study published this week in Nature Communications, Xinhua Fu and co-author Xinlei Zhu decoded the genome of the aquatic firefly Aquatica leii, found in the rice fields of China. In doing so, they identified two key genes responsible for the formation, activation, and positioning of the luminous organ of this firefly: Alabd-B and AlUnc-4. It was a surprise, as these genes, known to contribute to fireflies’ development, had never been linked to bioluminescence.
However, the event is still being studied as the study is limited to males of one species, A. leii, which means this pathway remains relatively unexplored in the other half of the population, the females. Fu plans to address this in a subsequent study.
