"Biologist Shuting Liu, one of the SCAU researchers behind these radiant plants and the first author of a new paper on them in the journal Matter, likened the succulents' glow to the futuristic bioluminescence seen in a particular science fiction franchise. "Picture the world of Avatar, where glowing plants light up an entire ecosystem," Liu said in a statement. "We wanted to make that vision possible using materials we already work with in the lab. Imagine glowing trees replacing streetlights.""
"Last year, the beautiful " Firefly Petunia" from the American startup Light Bio delighted consumers as they rushed to purchase the gene-hacked greenery for just $29 in pre-orders, eventually skyrocketing it onto Time magazine's best inventions of 2024 list. As NPR reported last year, the petunias' creator, biologist Keith Wood, worked for almost 40 years to make such beautiful and bright herbage, eventually landing on genes isolated from glowing mushrooms to make it happen."
"Unlike that gorgeous flowering friend, Nature noted that Chinese team behind the multi-colored succulents used something far more commonplace than genes from luminous fungi: nanoparticles similar to those that have made hippie-dippie blacklight posters luminesce in so many college dorm rooms for half a century now. (They're also found in glow-in-the-dark paints and toys, and used for imaging tracing in lab rodents.)"
Materials researchers at South China Agricultural University engineered succulent plants that glow in multiple colors by embedding sunlight-rechargeable nanoparticles. The nanoparticles absorb solar energy and re-emit visible light, producing sustained night-light–level brightness and multiple hues within single plants. Lead biologist Shuting Liu compared the effect to the bioluminescent ecosystem in Avatar and envisioned glowing trees replacing streetlights. The approach contrasts with gene-engineered glowing petunias that used fungal luminescence genes; the SCAU method relies on long-established luminescent nanoparticles found in posters, paints, toys, and animal imaging. Commercialized gene-hacked plants previously reached consumer markets and won recognition.
Read at Futurism
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