Toxicity of the bacterial luciferase substrate, n-decyl aldehyde, to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caenorhabditis elegans

This study determined that the Bacterial luciferase fusion gene (luxAB) was not a suitable in vivo gene reporter in the model eukaryotic organisms Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caenorhabditis elegans. LuxAB expressing S. cerevisiae strains displayed distinctive rapid decays in luminescence upon addition of the Bacterial luciferase substrate, n-decyl aldehyde, suggesting a toxic response. Growth studies and toxicity bioassays have subsequently confirmed, that the aldehyde substrate was toxic to both organisms at concentrations well tolerated by Escherichia coli. As the addition of aldehyde is an integral part of the Bacterial luciferase activity assay, our results do not support the use of lux reporter genes for in vivo analyses in these model eukaryotic organisms.