[paul.fr]

Is there anything we could intoduce in to a plants feed that would make it glow in the dark? Or anything we could graft on to a plant to produce a nice glowing plant?

[another_someone]

Is there anything we could intoduce in to a plants feed that would make it glow in the dark? Or anything we could graft on to a plant to produce a nice glowing plant?

GM is certainly able to do this - I believe the gene for casing fireflies to glow (not only in the dark) has been introduced into other species for various purposes.  I am not sure if there is a gene for only glowing in the dark (but not glowing in daylight) - but if there is an living organism that can achieve that, then we would be able to transplant the gene for it.

[paul.fr]

I thought it was chemicals, rather than genes that caused the firefly to glow []

[paul.fr]

I know green fluorescent protein, from squids or jellyfish, can't quite remember which. Has been used in other animals and human cells, would this work on plants too?

If someone could mass produce these, what a great way to cut down on lighting bills.

[that mad man]

You can get "glow in the dark" pigs that have been GM'd so I think you could do it with plants too.

[dentstudent]

There are already some fungi that are bioluminescent. I'll see if I can find something....

http://inamidst.com/lights/foxfire



Bioluminescence in Fungi from http://www.digitaltermpapers.com/view.php/d/262.HTM

INTRODUCTION

What is Bioluminescence?

The current paper main focus is on bioluminescent Fungi but the basic features
of bioluminescence discussed are common to all bioluminescent organisms.
Bioluminescence is simply light created by living organisms. Probably the most
commonly known example of bioluminescence by North Americans is the firefly,
which lights its abdomen during its mating season to communicate with potential
mates. This bioluminescent ability occurs in 25 different phyla many of which
are totally unrelated and diverse with the phylum Fungi included in this list
(an illustration of a bioluminescent fungi is displayed in figure 1). One of the
features of biological light that distinguishes it from other forms of light is
that it is cold light. Unlike the light of a candle, a lightbulb, bioluminescent
light is produced with very little heat radiation. This aspect of
bioluminescence especially interested early scientists who explored it. The
light is the result of a biochemical reaction in which the oxidation of a
compound called "Luciferin" and the reaction was catalyzed by an enzyme called
"Luciferase". The light generated by this biochemical reaction has been
utilized by scientists as a bioindicator for Tuberculosis as well as heavy
metals. On going research involving bioluminescence is currently underway in
the areas of evolution, ecology, histology, physiology, biochemistry, and
biomedical applications.

History of Bioluminescent Fungi
The light of luminous wood was first noted in the early writings of
Aristotle which occurred in 382 B.C.(Johnson and Yata 1966 and Newton 1952) The
next mention of luminous wood in the literature occurred in 1667 by Robert
Boyle who noticed glowing earth and noted that heat was absent from the light.
Many early scientists such as Conrad Gesner, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Bartolin
all observed and made notation of luminous earth(Johnson and Yata 1966 and
Newton 1952 ). These early observers thought that the light was due to small
insects or animal interactions. The first mention that the light of luminous
wood was due to fungi occurred from a study of luminous timbers used as supports
in mines by Bishoff in 1823. This opened the way for further study by many other
scientists and by 1855 modern experimental work began by Fabre ( Newton 1952).
Fabre established the basic parameters of bioluminescent fungi, those being:

- The light without heat - The light ceased in a vacuum, in hydrogen, and
carbon dioxide - The light was independent of humidity, temperature, light,
and did not burn any
brighter in pure oxygen

The work by Herring (1978) found that the luminescent parts of the included
pileus(cap), hymenium(gills) and the mycelial threads in combination or
separately(figure 2) also the individual spores were also seen to be luminescent.
Herring also stated that if the fruiting body (mushroom) was bioluminescent
then the mycelial threads were always luminescent as well but not vice versa.
From the 1850’s to the early part of the 20th century the
identification of the majority of fungal species exhibiting bioluminescent
traits was completed. The research of bioluminescent fungi stagnated from the
1920’s till 1950’s (Newton 1952 and Herring 1978 ). After which extensive
research began involving the mechanisms of bioluminescence and is still carried
out to the present.

The Process of Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence results because of a certain Biochemical reaction. This can be
described as a chemiluminescent reaction which involves a direct conversion of
chemical energy transformed to light energy( Burr 1985, Patel 1997 and
Herring1978). The reaction involves the following elements:

- Enzymes (Luciferase) - biological catalysts that accelerate and control the
rate of chemical reactions in cells. - Photons - packs of light energy. - ATP -
adenosine triphosphate, the energy storing molecule of all living organisms. -
Substrate (Luciferin) - a specific molecule that undergoes a chemical charge
when affixe...

[paul.fr]

You can get "glow in the dark" pigs that have been GM'd so I think you could do it with plants too.

no way! goes off to look for pictures.

[paul.fr]

I don't believe it, pigs may not fly but they do glow in the dark!

[dentstudent]

I don't believe it, pigs may not fly but they do glow in the dark!

So now all hoodies can be GM'd, so that police helipcopters can find them more easily?

[Karen W.]

LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!

[neilep]

Dowsing plants in petrol and setting them alight always works for me:

[dentstudent]

You sir, are a class numpty.....

[neilep]

You sir, are a class numpty.....

You're pretty hot stuff y'self !!...

[Karen W.]

Dowsing plants in petrol and setting them alight always works for me:

LOL LOL.. You are so bad...

[TheEremite]

newbielink:http://web.sau.edu/biology/faculty/halfhill/research.htm [nonactive]

to be fair though, Green Fluorescent Protein doesn't "Glow in the dark." You have to shine blue light on it for it to emit green light. With no light, it won't look like anything.

I think there's some info out there on "alba" the GFP bunny too.

[Bass]

Several plants, and flowers, fluoresce under ultraviolet light in the dark

And, as I found out the hard way, so do several species of scorpions [xx(]

[Karen W.]

We started all our tissue culture lilies under Ultraviolet lights until they were a couple months old! we worked with them starting them under the light as as well as one room being exposed to very regulated temps as well as a certain amount of ultra violets while the older plants were exposed and grown under yet again a different amount of ultra violet lights. More natural getting them ready for the greenhouses! I can't recall the exact lighting settings etc. it was many many years ago!

[Andrew K Fletcher]

Nice grow BTW ill be round for a smoke later if ok

[showmen]

I thought it was chemicals, rather than genes that caused the firefly to glow []

what do you mean "chemicals"? do you mean that they come into contact with some chemical in their environment to make them glow? I don't know to be honest but I DO know that the glows are species-specific so I would guess that it's genetic because it seems less likely (to me at least) that each species would just happen to come into contact with the different chemicals. The glow is used for attracting mates.

Anyway, the glowing would be caused either by chemicals which are produced by genes or by chemicals from the environment. So, either way, "chemicals" are involved