Alteration of enzyme-substrate interactions by ultra-high dilutions of the substrate

Abstract

The effects of different ultra-high dilutions of luciferin ranged from 1010 to 10102 on luciferin-luciferase reaction of fireflies were investigated. Luciferin substrate concentration varied from 0.0025 nM to 2.5 nM and ATP concentration remained unchanged. This study evaluated the bioluminescence intensity after addition of ultra-high dilutions of luciferin or ultra-high dilutions of water to the bioluminescent system and some multidirectional and significant differences were found. The number of ultra-high dilutions from studied starting materials, for which significant differences were found, increased sharply with decreasing substrate concentration to 0.0025 nM. No differences were found when the effects of ultra-high dilutions of a non-specific control imidazole and ultra-high dilutions of water on the signal intensity were compared. Our results suggest that ultra-high dilutions of luciferin can specifically inhibit the luciferin-luciferase reaction.