科学家利用蘑菇的发光DNA，培育出发光植物

科学家利用蘑菇的发光DNA，培育出发光植物

Ornamental house plants with sustainably glowing leaves and flowers are now one step closer to reality, thanks to a breakthrough in which scientists leveraged the bioluminescent powers of mushrooms.

由于科学家利用蘑菇的生物发光能力取得了突破性进展，具有持续发光的叶子和花朵的室内观赏植物现在离现实又近了一步。

Glowing plants are nothing new, as scientists have previously achieved this by using bioluminescent genes found in bacteria. Trouble is, these plants don’t glow very brightly, which is probably why they haven’t caught on.

发光的植物并不是什么新鲜事，因为科学家以前已经通过使用在细菌中发现的生物发光基因实现了这一点。问题是，这些植物发光不太明亮，这可能是它们还没有流行起来的原因。

New research published today in Nature Biotechnology describes a new technique, in which the DNA from bioluminescent mushrooms was used to create plants that glow 10 times brighter than their bacteria-powered precursors. Botanists could eventually use this technique to study the inner workings of plants, but it also introduces the possibility of glowing ornamental plants for our homes.

今天发表在《自然生物技术》杂志上的一项新研究描述了一种新技术，这种技术利用蘑菇发出的荧光DNA培育出比细菌发出的荧光亮10倍的植物。植物学家最终可能会使用这种技术来研究植物的内部结构，但它也为我们的家庭提供了发光装饰植物的可能性。

The new study, led by Karen Sarkisyan and Ilia Yampolsky from the Russian Academy of Sciences, describes tobacco plants that were genetically modified to express a recently discovered bioluminescent system found in mushrooms. Tobacco was chosen because these plants are genetically simple and grow quickly, but the new technique should work in other plant species as well.

这项由俄罗斯科学院的凯伦·萨基斯扬和伊利亚·亚姆波斯基领导的新研究，描述了经过基因改造的烟草植物，以表达最近在蘑菇中发现的生物发光系统。之所以选择烟草，是因为这些植物基因简单，生长迅速，但这项新技术也适用于其他植物品种。

Key to the process is an organic molecule called caffeic acid, which is found in all plants. Two enzymes convert the caffeic acid into a luminescent precursor, which was then treated with a third enzyme, producing an oxidised molecule capable of shooting out photons, that is, light. Incredibly, the plants produced around 10 billion photons per minute at wavelengths that peaked between 500 and 550 nanometres (the green range of the visible light spectrum). Plants and mushrooms are not closely related, but the researchers leveraged a metabolic process compatible to both.

这个过程的关键是一种叫做咖啡酸的有机分子，它存在于所有的植物中。两种酶将咖啡酸转化为发光前体，然后用第三种酶处理，产生一种氧化分子，能够发射出光子，即光。令人难以置信的是，这些植物每分钟产生大约100亿光子，波长在500到550纳米之间达到峰值(可见光光谱的绿色范围)。植物和蘑菇的关系并不密切，但研究人员利用了一种与两者相容的代谢过程。

This resulted in self-sustaining bioluminescent plants, in which the plants produced their own glow without the introduction of foreign biochemicals. They glowed continuously throughout their life cycles, and the modification didn’t seem to harm their normal development and health. The glowing could be seen with the naked eye, appearing in leaves, stems, roots, and flowers of the bioengineered plants.

这就产生了能够自我维持的生物发光植物，在这种植物中，植物在不引入外来生物化学物质的情况下自己发光。它们在整个生命周期中不断发光，这种改变似乎并没有损害它们的正常发育和健康。这种发光现象可以用肉眼看到，出现在生物工程植物的叶、茎、根和花中。

The breakthrough could provide scientists with a new way of observing the inner workings of plants, such as monitoring their glow to study a plant’s metabolism. Interestingly, young plants glowed more brightly than older ones, and flowers turned out to be the most luminous part. Sometimes, the glows ebbed and flowed in patterns, hinting at unknown internal processes.

这项突破可以为科学家们提供一种观察植物内部活动的新方法，比如监测植物的发光来研究植物的新陈代谢。有趣的是，年轻的植物比老的发光更亮，而花是最亮的部分。有时，这些发光的东西会以某种模式时隐时现，暗示着未知的内部过程。

Excitingly, these plants could also be used for ornamental purposes. And indeed, that’s exactly what these scientists are thinking, as the research has spun off into a new company called Light Bio. The project itself was partly funded by Planta LLC, a biotech startup headquartered in Moscow, so commercial implications were very much in mind from the get-go. Other financial contributors included the Russian Science Foundation and the Skolkovo Foundation. A total of 27 contributors are listed as authors on the new paper.

令人兴奋的是，这些植物也可以用作观赏目的。事实上，这正是这些科学家所想的，因为这项研究已经衍生出一家名为Light Bio的新公司。该项目本身的部分资金来自总部位于莫斯科的生物技术初创公司Planta LLC，因此从一开始就考虑了该项目的商业意义。其他捐款人包括俄罗斯科学基金会和斯科尔科沃基金会。共有27名贡献者被列为新论文的作者。

The study was conducted on tobacco plants, but species like periwinkle, petunia, and rose could be modified in the same way, according to the researchers. Looking ahead, the scientists would like to make the plants even brighter and possibly even able to respond to people and surroundings.

这项研究是在烟草植物上进行的，但研究人员表示，长春花、矮牵牛花和玫瑰等物种也可以用同样的方法进行改良。展望未来，科学家们希望能使这些植物变得更加明亮，甚至能够对人和环境做出反应。