Glow-in-the-dark plants go on sale

Like the glowing forests from the film Avatar, glow-in-the-dark plants are coming to your home.
Growing a glowing tree may take a while, but you can order glow-in-the-dark seeds for Arabidopsis,
a small flowering plant in the mustard family, right now.
According to the Kickstarter campaign that launched the company last year, Glowingplant.com
planned to start shipping the seeds next week. But the company says it has postponed the release
until the fall not due to production glitches or a failure to shine, but because it has raised more
money than it expected.
We asked our backers a few months ago whether they wanted us to ship on time or to use the rest of
the funds to improve the luminosity, said Anthony Evans, CEO of the synthetic biology startup that
has created the bioluminescent flora. The overwhelming advice was to improve.
To create a bioluminescent plant, scientists synthetically crossbred Arabidopsis and the glowing
marine bacteriumVibrio fischeri. Simply insertingthe bacteriumsDNA into the plant wouldnt work
the genes required modifications to work correctly in the plant so the team used the synthetic
approach.
First, they assembled the genes virtually, using software called a genetic compiler, which lets
scientists assemble DNA for new life forms on their computers. Then they sent the gene specs to
DNA-assembling companies, which built the actual DNA.
To import the freshly built genes into Arabidopsis, the team used a bacterium --Agrobacterium
tumefaciens. In nature,A. tumefaciensisa pathogen thatinserts its genes into plant cells, causing
tumorous growths. But its neutralized version can deliver the synthesized DNA into the host plant
without hurting it.
The team inserted the genes into the leaves and assessed how well the plant adjusted and how much
light it produced. Thanks to that extra funding, theyre now experimenting with a gamut of slightly
varied DNA sequences to achieve the best glow.
We plan to test about 1,500 sequences, Evans said.

When they settle on the best DNA

sequence, they will create the
commercial glow-in-the-dark
Arabidopsisusing a tool called a gene
gun, which willbombard the plant with
nanoparticles that deliver the DNA
inside.
When the Arabidopsisblooms, it will
produce seeds that will retain the new
genes, and its offspring will glow in
the dark. Right now the team is testing
the second-generation Arabidopsis
glowing aptitude.
When the seeds are finally sold to the
public, it will become the worlds
biggest release of a genetically
engineered plant a concept that doesnt
bode well with some
environmentalists. Synthetic biology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are highly disputed
concepts in modern science. There are concerns that GMOs pose risks to humans or may become
invasive species.
When Glowing Plant first put its project on Kickstarter, an anti-synthetic biology group in Canada
launched a kickstopper campaign to stop it. The effort amassed only $2,274. Evans team stopped a
few bucks short of half a million, beating his original goal more than sevenfold.
Christina Holmes, who studies implications of biotechnology and plant breeding innovations on
humanity at Dalhousie University in Canada, said that the risks are case-specific.
Bluntly put, not all GMOs are equal, Holmes said. It depends on what plant youre using, what genes
youre using, and what youre using it for.
The risks are higher, she said, when plants in question are intended for human consumption. But
Arabidopsis is just a weed. In terms of invasive species danger, risks are also plant-specific. This
depends partly on how easy it is for the plant involved to spread its pollen and therefore its genes to
other plants, Holmes said.
In the case of Arabidopsis, the concerns are unfounded because it is primarily a self-pollinating herb,
said Kyle Taylor, the molecular and plant biologist at Glowing Plant. Ask any Arabidopsis biologist
how hard it is to get them cross-pollinated, and they will tell you that its a non-trivial thing to do.
Taylor added that it will be harder for the hybrid to survive, because light production takes extra
energy, which weakens the plant. The hybrid may even confuse its own light with sunlight, which
may negatively affect its metabolism. If you put a regular Arabidopsis next to a glowing one, Taylor
said, the glowing one looks less happy.
Holmes says one may never know in advance how the new species will behave, but the luminous

modification wont give it any better weed power compared to, say, canola thats genetically modified
to resist herbicide.
Evans predicts the glowing plant will make the concept of synthetic biology exciting and relatable to
people. The reason people have such mistrust in biotechnology is that they dont understand it, he
said. We believe that we can change the resistance to biotechnology by creating something tangible,
something people can understand.
So will we live to see Pandoras forest-like trees that will replacestreet lamps,cut down on electricity
usage and CO2 emissions?
Its gonna take a lot of work to get to that level, Taylor says. Its biology, so things can pop up that we
dont fully understand. But he adds, We have some ideas how to get there.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/27/glow-in-dark-plants-go-on-sale.html