Mutated genes for the catalytic protein of

1. A method for performing a luminescence reaction, which comprises contacting a luciferase mutant with a luciferin, wherein the luciferase mutant is selected from (a) to (e) below:

(a) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is an amino acid sequence in which 1 to 17 amino acids are deleted, substituted, inserted and/or added in the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(c) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 has at least 90% identity to the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(d) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes under high stringent conditions to a polynucleotide consisting of a nucleotide sequence complementary to a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the high stringent conditions are 5×SSC, 5×Denhart's solution, 0.5% (w/v) SDS, 50% (v/v) formamide and 50° C., and having a luciferase activity; and,

(e) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO: 10.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the luciferin is coelenterazines.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the coelenterazines is bis-coelenterazine or 6h-f-coelenterazine.

4. A method for visualizing a luminescence reaction, which comprises contacting a luciferase mutant with a luciferin, and capturing a visualized image wherein the luciferase mutant is selected from (a) to (e) below:

(a) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is an amino acid sequence in which 1 to 17 amino acids are deleted, substituted, inserted and/or added in the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(c) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 has at least 90% identity to the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(d) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes under high stringent conditions to a polynucleotide consisting of a nucleotide sequence complementary to a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the high stringent conditions are 5×SSC, 5×Denhart's solution, 0.5% (w/v) SDS, 50% (v/v) formamide and 50° C., and having a luciferase activity; and,

(e) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO: 10.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the luciferin is coelenterazines.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the coelenterazines is h-coelenterazine or f-coelenterazine.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the luciferase mutants defined in (b) to (d) above are mutants defined in (b-1) to (d-1) below:

(b-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is an amino acid sequence in which 1 to 9 amino acids are deleted, substituted, inserted and/or added in the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(c-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 has at least 95% identity to the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity; and,

(d-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes under high stringent conditions to a polynucleotide consisting of a nucleotide sequence complementary to a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the high stringent conditions are 5×SSC, 5×Denhart's solution, 0.5% (w/v) SDS, 50% (v/v) formamide and 50° C., and having a luciferase activity.

8. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the luciferase mutants defined in (b) to (d) above are mutants defined in (b-1) to (d-1) below:

(b-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is an amino acid sequence in which 1 to 9 amino acids are deleted, substituted, inserted and/or added in the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity;

(c-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 has at least 95% identity to the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a luciferase activity; and,

(d-1) a luciferase mutant consisting of an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid selected from amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is deleted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and an amino acid sequence excluding the amino acids at the positions of 1 to 4 is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes under high stringent conditions to a polynucleotide consisting of a nucleotide sequence complementary to a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence at the positions of 5 to 169 of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the high stringent conditions are 5×SSC, 5×Denhart's solution, 0.5% (w/v) SDS, 50% (v/v) formamide and 50° C., and having a luciferase activity.