Transgenic plants that glow brightly in Russia

News24xx.com - Scientists from Russia in collaboration with colleagues from other countries created transgenic luminous plants. 

New organisms glow ten times brighter than their closest analogs, their glow can be removed even on a smartphone. A plant emits light all its life, and its flowers shine most brightly. 

The achievement is described in a scientific article published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Until very recently, bacteria remained the only group of living organisms whose luminescence mechanism was clear in every detail.

Caffeic acid is the most important metabolic element of any plant, it is present in its tissues in large quantities. 

So, it remains to transplant four genes encoding special proteins to the “green friend”. That's exactly what the researchers did. One of its leaders was Karen Sargsyan from the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences.

As an experimental organism, experts chose tobacco, the genome of which is well studied. In addition, this culture grows very quickly and has been used more than once in unusual studies. The result was a real gift for connoisseurs of the film "Avatar" with its nonexistent, but such a beautiful glowing forest.

Green glow comes from leaves, stems, roots, and especially flowers of transgenic tobacco. It is at least ten times brighter than any other genetically engineered luminous plants. You can enjoy it with the naked eye and even shoot on household cameras and smartphones.

At the same time, such unusual qualities do not completely prevent the body from growing and developing normally. And it glows throughout its life. Biologists have found that the intensity of the glow shows the content of acid in this part of the plant in a specific second. This is understandable, given that it is from this substance that a luminous substance is obtained.