Autoluminescent plants

Prospects of obtaining plants glowing in the dark have captivated the imagination of scientists and layman alike. While light emission has been developed into a useful marker of gene expression, bioluminescence in plants remained dependent on externally supplied substrate. Evolutionary conservation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 5; no. 11; p. e15461
Main Authors Krichevsky, Alexander, Meyers, Benjamin, Vainstein, Alexander, Maliga, Pal, Citovsky, Vitaly
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 12.11.2010
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Agriculture
Bacteria
Bacterial Proteins - chemistry
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Biocatalysts
Biochemistry
Biology
Bioluminescence
Biosynthesis
Biotechnology
Chloroplasts
Chloroplasts - chemistry
Chloroplasts - genetics
Chloroplasts - metabolism
Chromosomes
Conservation
DNA methylation
Earth Sciences
Emissions
Enzymes
Evolution
Evolutionary conservation
Fatty acids
Gene expression
Genome, Chloroplast - genetics
Genomes
Light
Light emission
Luciferase
Luminescence
Mental task performance
Metabolic pathways
Molecular biology
Nicotiana
Nicotiana - chemistry
Nicotiana - genetics
Nicotiana - metabolism
Nicotiana tabacum
Organisms
Photinus pyralis
Photobacterium - genetics
Photobacterium - metabolism
Plants (botany)
Plants, Genetically Modified
Plasmids
Plastids
Prokaryotes
Proteins
Tobacco
Transcription Factors - chemistry
Transcription Factors - genetics
Transcription Factors - metabolism
New York
United States > US
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Summary:Prospects of obtaining plants glowing in the dark have captivated the imagination of scientists and layman alike. While light emission has been developed into a useful marker of gene expression, bioluminescence in plants remained dependent on externally supplied substrate. Evolutionary conservation of the prokaryotic gene expression machinery enabled expression of the six genes of the lux operon in chloroplasts yielding plants that are capable of autonomous light emission. This work demonstrates that complex metabolic pathways of prokaryotes can be reconstructed and function in plant chloroplasts and that transplastomic plants can emit light that is visible by naked eye.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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Conceived and designed the experiments: AK. Performed the experiments: BM. Analyzed the data: AK. Wrote the paper: AK VA PM VC.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0015461