scintillon


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scintillon

[′sint·i‚län]
(invertebrate zoology)
An outpocketing of the cytoplasm in dinoflagellates which contains luciferase and luciferin-binding protein and is the source of bioluminescence.
References in periodicals archive ?
The final step of the signaling pathway is acidification of scintillons due to flux of protons from the vacuole to closely associated scintillons, vesicles containing the luminescent chemistry, resulting in a flash of light (Fogel and Hastings, 1972; Nawata and Sibaoka, 1979; Johnson et al., 1985; Nicolas et al., 1987).
Role of TRP Channels in Dinoflagellate Mechanotransduction
* Address correspondence to the author at: Department of Photobiology and Bioimaging, The Scintillon Institute, 6404 Nancy Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121.
The mFruit collection of monomeric fluorescent proteins
In these organisms, light is emitted when the enzyme luciferase oxidizes a substrate, luciferin, contained in small vesicles called scintillons. Luciferin is normally prevented from reacting by attachment to a luciferin-binding protein; mechanical distortion of the cell plasma membrane generates an electrical action potential that traverses the cell in less than a microsecond (Nicolas et at., 1975), creating an influx of protons that releases luciferin for oxidation.
The Chemical Defense Ecology of Marine Unicellular Plankton: Constraints, Mechanisms, and Impacts
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