Matricaria chamomilla L. is a famous medicinal plant distributed worldwide. It is widely used in traditional medicine to treat all kinds of diseases, including infections, neuropsychiatric, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and liver disorders. It is also used as a sedative, antispasmodic, antiseptic, and antiemetic. In this review, reports on M. chamomilla taxonomy, botanical and ecology description, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, biological and pharmacological properties, possible application in different industries, and encapsulation were critically gathered and summarized. Scientific search engines such as Web of Science, PubMed, Wiley Online, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used to gather data on M. chamomilla. The phytochemistry composition of essential oils and extracts of M. chamomilla has been widely analyzed, showing that the plant contains over 120 constituents. Essential oils are generally composed of terpenoids, such as α-bisabolol and its oxides A and B, bisabolone oxide A, chamazulene, and β-farnesene, among other compounds. On the other hand, M. chamomilla extracts were dominated by phenolic compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, and coumarins. In addition, M. chamomilla demonstrated several biological properties such as antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-parasitic, insecticidal, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. These activities allow the application of M. chamomilla in the medicinal and veterinary field, food preservation, phytosanitary control, and as a surfactant and anti-corrosive agent. Finally, the encapsulation of M. chamomilla essential oils or extracts allows the enhancement of its biological activities and improvement of its applications. According to the findings, the pharmacological activities of M. chamomilla confirm its traditional uses. Indeed, M. chamomilla essential oils and extracts showed interesting antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antidiabetic, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, anti-pyretic, anti-allergic, and analgesic activities. Moreover, the most important application of M. chamomilla was in the medicinal field on animals and humans.

Luciferase is a general term for enzymes catalyzing visible light emission by living organisms (bioluminescence). The studies carried out with Photinus pyralis (firefly) luciferase allowed the discovery of the reaction leading to light production. It can be regarded as a two‐step process: the first corresponds to the reaction of luciferase's substrate, luciferin (LH₂), with ATP‐Mg²⁺ generating inorganic pyrophosphate and an intermediate luciferyl‐adenylate (LH₂‐AMP); the second is the oxidation and decarboxylation of LH₂‐AMP to oxyluciferin, the light emitter, producing CO₂, AMP, and photons of yellow‐green light (550– 570 nm). In a dark reaction LH₂‐AMP is oxidized to dehydroluciferyl‐adenylate (L‐AMP). Luciferase also shows acyl‐coenzyme A synthetase activity, which leads to the formation of dehydroluciferyl‐coenzyme A (L‐CoA), luciferyl‐coenzyme A (LH₂‐CoA), and fatty acyl‐CoAs. Moreover luciferase catalyzes the synthesis of dinucleoside polyphosphates from nucleosides with at least a 3′‐phosphate chain plus an intact terminal pyrophosphate moiety. The LH₂ stereospecificity is a particular feature of the bioluminescent reaction where each isomer, D‐LH₂ or L‐LH₂, has a specific function. Practical applications of the luciferase system, either in its native form or with engineered proteins, encloses the analytical assay of metabolites like ATP and molecular biology studies with luc as a reporter gene, including the most recent and increasing field of bioimaging. © 2008 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 61(1): 6–17, 2009