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Firefly luciferase

Luciferase is the enzyme that makes a firefly's tail glow. It uses ATP fuel to turn a chemical called luciferin into light.

Fun fact

Almost every electron of energy comes out as light. Almost none turns into heat.

Words to know

enzyme
atp

NGSS alignment

MS-LS1-2Inside the cell
MS-LS1-7Food, energy, and growth

Structure

Rendered in FoldLens Junior from AlphaFold Database entry P08659. See the underlying prediction at alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/entry/P08659.

About this surface

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