The tree glows in the night like a lamp

Based on the light-emitting mechanism of fireflies, American scientists have made plants glow with brightness almost equivalent to that of light bulbs.

Everyone's childhood - especially those who live in the countryside or have grandparents in the countryside - must have many memories of fireflies.

On summer nights, watching fireflies flicker like shooting stars is so pleasing to the eye. Sometimes we even catch fireflies and put them in our mosquito nets to let them fly around, imagining we are sleeping under a sky full of bright stars.

Fireflies glow through a chemical reaction called bioluminescence. This process occurs in the light-emitting organ on the underside of the firefly, which contains light-emitting cells containing the compound luciferin and the enzyme luciferase.

When separated, they are unable to emit light. But when in contact with each other, luciferase will catalyze, promoting the oxidation of luciferin.

This light does not emit heat like artificial light. Because in the process of emitting light, almost all the energy is converted into light energy and not into heat like in other artificial light sources.

But now, based on the light-emitting mechanism of fireflies, American scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way to make plants glow with a brightness almost equivalent to that of household light bulbs.

Glow-in-the-dark tree - Photo: MIT

In nature, there are many species of organisms that have the ability to glow, but their light is quite weak.

The team used a method of "stimulating" luciferin compounds and aquatic bacteria Vibrio fischeri to enhance luminescence and light intensity. Next, they created genetic elements into nano-biomass that can be implanted into the genes of plants.

Researchers were also able to create light of different colors by inserting these genes into Escherichia coli bacteria.

A major obstacle to making bioluminescence is that the light-emitting process relies on the compound luciferin, which glows and then converts to oxyluciferin, which does not glow.

Researchers have figured out how to engineer biomasses so that they produce enzymes that can recycle oxyluciferin back into luciferin to maintain the glow.

A glowing tree at night, isn't it great? - Photo: Pinterest

This bioluminescent invention is very useful for people living in remote areas without a national power grid, or to plant in homes, gardens, and parks to save electricity.

This type of living light source has the advantage of not being damaged or broken like a regular light bulb, and is very easy to replace by planting another plant.

According to calculations, a luminescent tree with the same brightness as a street light bulb only consumes 0.02% of the photosynthetic energy that the tree has absorbed to convert into light.

The researchers said they do not intend to use the luminescent plants to replace the lighting system in inner-city areas, because LED lights - which consume less energy, have a long life and produce light intensity many times higher than luminescent plants - are still a more economically effective solution.

According to TTO