Glowing Plants Can Light Up the Night Sky? A Review

Abstract

Luminescence, a physical phenomenon that producing cool light in vivo, has been found in bacteria, fungi and anminals but not yet in terrestrial higher plants. Through genetic engineering, it is feasible to introduce luminescence system into living plant cells as biomarkers. Recently, some plants transformed with luminescent systems can glimmer in darkness, which can be observed by our naked eyes and provide a novel lighting resource. In this review, we summarized the development of luminescence in plant cells, followed by exampling the successful cases of glowing plants transformed with diverse luminescent systems. The potential key factors to optimize a glowing plant are also discussed. Our review is useful for the creation of the optimized glowing plants, which can be used not only in scientific research, but also as promising substitutes of artificial light sources in the future.

Authors 4

1. Bolong Li

   Dalian University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Dalian University of Technology

   School of Bioengineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

2. Ru Chen

   Dalian University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Dalian University of Technology

   School of Bioengineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

3. Chenba Zhu Aachen Institute of Biotechnology

   RWTH Aachen University · Dalian University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Dalian University of Technology

   Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, 52074 Aachen, Germany

   School of Bioengineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

4. Fantao Kong corresponding

   Dalian University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Dalian University of Technology

   School of Bioengineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China