D-Luciferin is a popular bioluminescent substrate of luciferase in the presence of ATP, used in luciferase-based bioluminescence imaging and cell-based high-throughput screening applications.
D-luciferin reacts with luciferase, ATP and oxygen with light emission, and the light is detected by a sensitive photographic film, thereby permitting the visualization of the alkaline phosphatase-conjugated antibodies. [1]
In an immunocompetent mouse model of ovarian cancer, use of D-luciferin substrate and firefly luciferase preserves tumor-host immune interactions, since bioluminescent imaging is a more sensitive indication of tumor growth than weight gain. [2]