IK. D. McELROY AND H. H. SELIGER 



253 



Subsequent stiulies by Totter and Cormier indicated that one light 

 quantum is emitted tor each twenty aldehyde molecules used. 



Using a partially purified enzyme, Strehler and Cormier demon- 

 strated that a number ol straight-chain, saturated aldehydes would 

 support light emission. The results obtained by Rogers and McElroy 

 (22) indicated an interesting difference in light intensity with alde- 



^ 200 



60 



120 



Q. 



I 



> 



z 



UJ 



I- 

 z 



I- 



X 



-i 40h 



80 - 



FMNH. 



• — 14500 



DPNH 



1 





- 1000 



500 



8 10 12 14 



ALDEHYDE CHAIN LENGTH 







Fig. 31. Effect of aldehyde chain length on the initial light intensity. The light 

 reaction in the bacterial extracts was initiated upon addition of reduced DPN and 

 reduced F.MN respectively. 



hydes of various chain lengths. The results given in Fig. 31 suggest 

 that the effectiveness of the aldehydes containing an even number 

 of carbon atoms increases with chain length, while the response to 

 the aldehydes containing an odd number of carbon atoms reaches 

 maximum effectiveness with C,,. 



Mechanism of Light Emission 



Before discussing the possible chemical and physical mechanisms 

 of bacterial light emission, it is well to summarize the following points 

 which any proposal must satisfy. (1) The peak of the emission spec- 



