2024-02-16 06:30:00
Do you find red roses tacky? Why not give your loved one a bioluminescent plant? Especially since he or she will be able to continue admiring your gift once the light goes out. The American start-up Light Bio has been authorized to market “Firefly Petunia” in the United States, a petunia which emits green light in the dark.
The company that sells its product for $29 incorporated genes from a bioluminescent fungus called Neonothopanus nambi into the plant, according to the journal Nature. In this way, it produces enzymes capable of converting the caffeic acid it creates naturally into luciferin, a light-emitting molecule, which it then recycles into caffeic acid to maintain its bioluminescence.
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Non-existent risks of propagation
“If you treat the plant well, it gets enough sunlight and it’s healthy, it will shine brighter,” Karen Sarkisyan, co-founder of the Idaho-based startup, assures Nature. Not enough to disturb the sleep of plant owners, however, according to this synthetic biology researcher. The Firefly Petunia produces light with an intensity similar to that of the full moon, he describes.
With his colleagues, he chose to cultivate the petunia because it is very popular in the United States as an ornamental plant. The species he turned to in particular is not native to North America and is not considered invasive. Enough to reduce to zero the risks of propagation of modified genes in native plants, which would have the consequence of disrupting ecosystems. For the moment, Light Bio has received around 50,000 pre-orders for plants which it will deliver – a little later than Valentine’s Day – in April.
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