We isolated luminous bacteria from drying chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, reported by Alaska native fishermen to be 'glowing in the dark.' The salmon were harvested for subsistence use from the Yukon River, Alaska. We identified our luminous bacterial isolates as Photobacterium phosphoreum based on nutritional versatility, and 16S rDNA and luxA gene sequences. P. phosphoreum has previously only been isolated from the marine environment. We tested whether our strains, isolated from fish harvested in freshwater, represent cold-adapted, freshwater-tolerant strains of P. phosphoreum. We also analyzed lux operon composition and organization, and examined the 5' promoter region of the lux operon for shared genes and regulatory elements from [...]
