Plants that ‘glow-in-the-dark’ have been developed by researchers using DNA taken from mushrooms – and they hope to be able to sell glowing roses in the future.
A global team of researchers, funded by biotech startup Planta, found that the bioluminescence in some mushrooms is similar natural processes in plants.
This allowed them to take the mushroom DNA and create new plants that glow much brighter than has been possible from other techniques in the past.
So far they have only created a version of the tobacco plant but hope to be able to produce roses, periwinkles and other garden flowers in the future.
Plants that ‘glow-in-the-dark’ have been developed by researchers using DNA taken from mushrooms – and they hope to be able to sell glowing roses in the future
The study is a collaboration of 27 scientists from Planta, the Russian Academy of Sciences, MRC London and the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria.
Lead authors, Dr Kaen Sarkisyan and Dr Illa Yampolsky said it’s not just for aesthetics – biological light can be used for observing the inner workings of a plant.
Plants containing the mushroom DNA glow continuously throughout their lifecycle, from seedling to maturity – they don’t need to acquire new chemicals.
That’s in contrast to other commonly used forms of bioluminescence, such as DNA that is taken from fireflies and added to plants – first achieved 30-years-ago.
The new discovery can also be used for practical and aesthetic purposes, most notably for creating glowing flowers and other ornamental plants.
While replacing street lights with glowing trees may prove fantastical, the plants produce a pleasant green aura that emanates from their living energy.
According to the authors, the plants can produce over a billion photons per minute.
Dr Keith Wood, CEO of Light Bio, was on the team that created the first luminescent plant using a gene from fireflies.
‘These new plants can produce a much brighter and more steady glow, which is fully embodied within their genetic code.’
Designing new biological features is more complex than merely moving genetic parts from one organism to another, the authors say.
The new parts added to the plant need to ‘metabolically integrate’ within the host.
For most organisms, the parts needed for bioluminescence are not all known. and until recently, a complete part list was available only for bacterial bioluminescence.
Past attempts to create glowing plants from these parts have not gone well, largely because bacterial parts typically do not work properly in more complex organisms.
About a year ago researchers found parts within certain types of mushroom that sustain bioluminescence.
This is the first time the living light of an advanced multicellular organism had been fully defined by scientists and paved the way for this new development in plants.
This allowed them to make glowing plants that are at least ten-fold brighter than previous attempts using firefly DNA.
Using ordinary cameras and smartphones, green illumination was recorded coming from leaves, stems, roots, and flowers.
They achieved this without harming the health of the plant carrying the new DNA.
Although mushrooms are not closely related to plants, their light emission centres on an organic molecule that is also needed in plants for making cell walls.
This molecule, called caffeic acid, produces light through a metabolic cycle involving four enzymes.
Two enzymes convert the caffeic acid into a luminescent precursor, which is then oxidized by a third enzyme to produce a photon.
The last enzyme converts the oxidized molecule back to caffeic acid to start the cycle again.
In plants, caffeic acid is a building block of lignin, which helps provide mechanical strength to the cell walls and it part of the biomass of a plant and one of the most abundant renewable resources on Earth.
As a key component of plant metabolism, caffeic acid is also integral to many other essential compounds involved in colours, fragrances, antioxidants, and so forth.
Despite their similar sounding names, caffeic acid is not related to caffeine.
By connecting light production to this vital molecule the team were able to create a plant that can reveal insights into its own makeup to scientists.
It can reveal the physiological status of the plants and their responses to the environment.
Plants containing the mushroom DNA glow continuously throughout their lifecycle, from seedling to maturity – they don’t need to acquire new chemicals
‘For instance, the glow increases dramatically when a ripe banana skin is placed nearby (which emits ethylene),’ the authors wrote.
Younger parts of the plants tend to glow most brightly and the flowers are particularly luminous.
Flickering patterns or waves of light are often visible, revealing active behaviors within the plants that normally would be hidden.
In this published research, the authors relied on tobacco plants because of their simple genetics and rapid growth.
Research at Planta, and by Arjun Khakhar and colleagues, have demonstrated feasibility for other glowing plants, including periwinkle, petunia, and rose.
Even brighter plants can be expected with further development.
New features may be possible, such as changing brightness or colour in response to people and surroundings.
‘Through this living aura, we may even gain a new awareness of our plants that emulate the inspiring allure of Avatar,’ the authors wrote.
The research has been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.