Have you ever heard of fluorescent seas? If you're lucky enough to encounter patches of luminous algae on the beach, throw a few stones into the water, causing ripples and the water will glow a faint blue.
Figure丨Fluorescence Sea (Source: thecostaricanews)
This is due to the fact that luminous algae will emit light when stimulated, similar bioluminescent phenomena are not uncommon in nature, some algae, animals will emit light, in 1962 Japanese scientist Shimomura Shu isolated the green fluorescent egg (GFP) in the Victoria multi-tube luminescent jellyfish. In February 1994, American scientist Martin Chalfie et al. creatively expressed GFP in E. coli and Caenorhabditis elegans cells, respectively, and concluded that GFP luminescence does not require other substrates or co-factors, so it can be used to monitor gene expression and protein localization in living organisms.
In 2008, Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Yongjian Qian won that year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering and modifying green fluorescent proteins. Nowadays, GFP protein has become one of the tools commonly used by scientists, and its application has been extended to many research fields, and scientists have discovered more proteins that can emit light.
In addition to the field of scientific research, there are also sciences that apply it to plants, and they want to create plants that can emit light. Recently, Karen Sarkisyan, founder of synthetic biology company Light Bio, announced on social media that its first self-luminous ornamental plant, the petunia, is being commercialized and is now entering the crowdfunding stage.
The introduction of luminescent genes into plants is not new, there have been scientists who have introduced luminescent genes from bacteria into plants, but their brightness is weak and their persistence is poor, and the luminescent genes used by Light Bio come from a fungus called Neonothopanus nambi, which is ten times brighter than that of plants that use bacterial genes.
In 2020, Karen Sarkisyan and Ilia Yampolsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented the results in an article in Nature Biotechnology. The key substance in the fungal luminescence process is an organic molecule called caffeic acid, which is found in all plants, and under the action of two enzymes, caffeic acid is converted into luminescent precursors, and then under the action of a third enzyme, an oxidation molecule capable of emitting photons is produced.
Figure丨 Characteristics of fungal bioluminescence systems (Source: Nature Biotechnology)
In fact, as early as 2017, Ilia Yampolsky co-founded another luminous plant company planta.bio, and in 2019, Karen Sarkisyan and Ilia Yampolsky founded Light Bio, which aims to develop and commercialize new bioluminescent technologies and live luminous plants in the global market, this time they also pulled another distinguished professor in the field of bioluminescence, Keith Wood.
Figure丨Light Bio Founder (Source: Light Bio)
Having published more than 100 papers in the field of bioluminescence and holding more than 170 granted patents, Keith Wood served as Head of Research and Development at Promega prior to joining Light Bio, developing and commercializing a variety of modern luminescent technologies that are widely used around the world.
And luminous plants can not only be used for ornamentation, but also for scientists to provide a new way to observe the internal operation of plants, luminous plants can continue to emit light in the life cycle, the imported luminescent genes will not affect the normal development of plants, luminescent phenomena in the leaves, stems, roots and flowers of plants can be observed with the naked eye, young plants are brighter than older plants, flowers are the brightest part, if the light fades or flows, suggesting that unknown internal activities may occur, based on these phenomena, Scientists can observe physiological changes in plants with the naked eye.
According to Light Bio, "We have created new capabilities in bioluminescence by applying synthetic biology to the natural diversity of life light, providing new solutions for basic research, industrial processes and consumer products." In the paper published above, the luminous plant is tobacco, and now the Light Bio crowdfunded plant is the dwarf morning glory, and they also said that species such as periwinkles and roses can be modified in the same way.
If you had a glowing plant, where would you plant it? In front of the window or in the garden? One netizen commented, "I want plant it before my tombstone, and tell everyone that I am still shining in the world." (I want to plant it in front of my tombstone and tell everyone that I still shine in this world).
Resources:
https://www.light-bio.com/
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-create-glowing-plants-using-bioluminescent-m-1843106435
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