This information was taken from the Modern Biology, Inc. website. This site also has a nice short movie about transformation by pVIB: http://www.modernbio.com/ind-9.htm
pVIB, an ampicillinent resistant, bioluminescent plasmid from Vibiro fischeri
The emission of light by living organisms is a fascinating process. The genetic system required for luminescence in the bacterium Photobacterium (Vibiro) fischeri is the lux operon. This operon contains a gene for luciferase (the enzyme that catalyzes the light-emitting reaction) and genes for enzymes which produce the luciferins (which are the substrates for the light-emitting reaction.). In this exercise, students create a luminescent population of bacteria by introducing into E.coli a plasmid that contains this lux operon. The success of the transformation is readily apparent since the E.coli colonies that take up this plasmid glow in the dark as shown below.
In both panels, control plasmid plate is to the left and pVIB plate is to the right. The right panel shows the plates photographed in light conditions. The photograph in the right panel was taken in total darkness using only the light emitted from the bacteria that were transformed with plasmid pVIB