Cyclic Luciferase for Real‐Time Sensing of Caspase‐3 Activities in Living Mammals

Illumination for apoptosis: Firefly luciferase connected with a substrate sequence for caspase-3 (DEVD) is cyclized by an intein DnaE. When the cyclic luciferase is expressed in living cells, its activity is greatly decreased because of a steric effect. Activated caspase-3 cleaves the substrate sequence in the cyclic luciferase and the luciferase activity is restored. Quantitative sensing of time-dependent caspase-3 activity in living cells and mice upon extracellular stimuli has been demonstrated (see images). Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2002/2007/z700538_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.