Earth is lighted up by bioluminescence but, for many of us, seeing the natural phenomenon is a rare treat: Catching the glow of a firefly or witnessing a dolphin swimming through electric blue waters is a thrill.
Researchers are currently engineering glowing flowers and decorative plants that can cast a green light onto our living rooms. Observing a plant’s health via its glow can be a way to instantly measure its health, and the side-effect is anybody who wants a healthy glowing plant in their living room can have one.
A study published on Monday in Nature Biotechnology shows that this goal is well on its way to being a reality. The study authors announce they’ve created a method that causes plants to glow much brighter, and for a longer period of time, than previous efforts. Plants adapted by this method should be available for purchase within a few years.
The research was conducted through a teamwork between three scientific institutions and Planta, a biotech startup in Moscow. When this team examined a poisonous mushroom, they discovered that caffeic acid is responsible for its bioluminescence. In this new study, the team employed that information and inserted enzymes — which are specific to the mushroom — into the DNA of tobacco plants. In turn, the enzymes were able to interact with the caffeic acid in the tobacco plants, and cause them to glow both in the dark and in the daylight.
This method, the scientists claimed, made the plants 10 times brighter than previous efforts and the continuous light production didn’t harm the health of the plants. Interestingly, the light decreased as the leaves aged — but it also increased when the leaves were damaged. In turn, the team suggested this method could also help other researchers monitor plant responses to various pressures and changes in the environment. If a plant is short of water or a hungry sheep is harming a plant, bioluminescence could warn of this damage before it’s too late.
【小题1】How can people quickly identify a decorative flower’s health condition?| A．By making it greener. | B．By monitoring its glow. |
| C．By testing the chemicals in it. | D．By putting it in the living room. |
| A．They will appear on the market. | B．They may take the place of lamps. |
| C．They can light up a whole living room. | D．They glow less bright than previous efforts. |
| A．They inserted caffeic acid into it. |
| B．They made it give out brighter light. |
| C．They grew it on the tobacco plant farm. |
| D．They put its enzymes into the tobacco plants. |
| A．Warning of potential damage from glowing plants. |
| B．Warning of the light production’s harm to plants. |
| C．Effects of continuous light production on the glowing plants. |
| D．Benefits of combining specific enzymes with caffeic acid in plants. |
