Bioglow’s Starlight Avatar is the World’s First Light Producing Plant
Misouri based company, Bioglow, has been working in an effort to create light-producing plants for years. Starlight Avatar is the culmination of their efforts. From Inhabitat:
Starlight Avatar™ is an auto luminescent plant that generates light through its own pathways and does not require UV light or chemical additives. The light producing plant was made by taking an ornamental Nicotiana alata plant and introducing the light-emitting pathway from marine bacteria into its chloroplast genome. The genetically modified plant then glows a soft blue-green in the dark and could be used for decorative purposes, but is hardly bright enough to read with.
Bioglow hopes to improve their techniques and strengthen the light production capabilities. They foresee a time when the plants are used as decorative landscaping that could eliminate the need for night time lighting and decrease emissions from electricity use. Bioglow also hopes to create plants the emit red or other colored lights and maybe even use the plants to serve pollution or stress sensors.
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