The Plants that Glow in the Dark
If you are bewitched by fireflies glowing in the dark, like miniature floating stars, then plants glowing like those fireflies will sure take hold of your mortal form and transport you elsewhere. So, what was that hullabaloo a few years back about the world's 'first' bioluminescent plant? You'll find out.
The crowdfunding platform, Kickstarters raked in nearly half a million dollars in 2013, and the campaign which garnered this much attention was all about creating glow-in-the-dark plants. It must be noted that this was the first campaign ever to feature synthetic engineering, and as group of researchers from California were behind the promising project, with the company being Missouri based Bioglow. Anthony Evans and his team's project raised quite a few eyebrows when they first announced their plans to modify the plants, as some people were opposed to their mission of genetically altering the plants. But the campaign was quite a success, and they planned to make those glowing plants commercially available in future, while initially opting for a limited release. They named it 'Starlight Avatar' (turns out, the film managed to impress them as well!). The plants will glow like fireflies, but without any chemicals. This will be made possible when the chloroplast genome of the houseplant and the DNA from luminescent marine bacteria are introduced. The life cycle of the plants, according to them, will range from two to three months. Forget mason jars with fairylights inside it, hung beside flowerpots, as these glowing houseplants will brighten your room just fine!
As of 2018, the project was declared officially dead, owing to complications. They did test on a range of plants, but unfortunately things didn't work out. Well, the night is young, and the future is unknown, so, let's not lose hope, as today's dreams can be tomorrow's glow-in-the-dark-reality!
Post Written by - Lopamudra
Post Written by - Lopamudra
No comments: