Glowing plants reveal immune responses around infection sites via two colors
Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) have developed a new way to make glowing biological reporters more accurate, allowing scientists to track gene activity in living plants over days, weeks and potentially even months and years.
Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) have developed a new way to make glowing biological reporters more accurate, allowing scientists to track gene activity in living plants over days, weeks and potentially even months and years.
The short version
- The approach could help researchers study how plants respond to disease, pests and environmental stress, while opening the door to similar applications in animal and human disease models.
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- Published today in Nature Plants , the study addresses a longstanding challenge in autoluminescence imaging, a technique that enables organisms to generate their own light without the need for added chemicals or specialized laboratory equipment.
What happened
The research was led by scientists working in Karen Sarkisyan's group and collaborators from Light Bio and international partner institutions. Scientists often use light-producing reporter systems to monitor when genes switch on and off.
Why it matters
However, in self-sustaining luminescent systems, light output is affected not only by gene activity but also by changes in metabolism, temperature, oxygen levels and other factors.
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