insect luciferase, similar to plant 4-coumarate: CoA ligases
This family contains insect firefly luciferases that share significant sequence similarity to plant 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligases, despite their functional diversity. Luciferase catalyzes the production of light in the presence of MgATP, molecular oxygen, and luciferin. In the first step, luciferin is activated by acylation of its carboxylate group with ATP, resulting in an enzyme-bound luciferyl adenylate. In the second step, luciferyl adenylate reacts with molecular oxygen, producing an enzyme-bound excited state product (Luc=O*) and releasing AMP. This excited-state product then decays to the ground state (Luc=O), emitting a quantum of visible light.