Light Bio, Inc.Montage shows the glowing petunia in the light and in the darkLight Bio, Inc.
A plant that appears ordinary during the day and emits a green glow in the dark is entering the American market. Light Bio has begun taking online preorders of its firefly petunia for US$29, promising nationwide shipping from April onwards. The science behind the new plant was developed in 2020 by biochemist Ilia Yampolsky and synthetic biologist Karen Sarkisyan, partners at the Russian startup Planta. They inserted four genes from the Vietnamese mushroom Neonothopanus nambi into tobacco plants. In partnership with the Russian duo, American chemist Keith Wood founded Light Bio and adjusted the plant’s gene expression, a feat that was highlighted on the cover of March’s issue of Nature Methods. “The biggest challenge was achieving strong, stable bioluminescence without compromising the health and natural beauty of the petunias,” Wood told Pesquisa FAPESP. “They emit 100 times more light than the fungi,” says Brazilian chemist Cassius Stevani of the University of São Paulo (USP), who participated in previous phases of the research. Wood’s group has previously added bioluminescence to the tree Populus canadensis (Nature, February 9).
Republish