Glowing trees could light up city streets

[M II A II R II K]

Glowing trees could light up city streets


25 November 2010

By Frank Swain



Read More: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...y-streets.html

IMAGINE taking a midnight stroll, your route lit by row upon row of trees glowing a ghostly blue. If work by a team of undergraduates at the University of Cambridge pans out, bioluminescent trees could one day be giving our streets this dreamlike look. The students have taken the first step on this road by developing genetic tools that allow bioluminescence traits to be easily transferred into an organism.

Nature is full of glow-in-the-dark critters, but their shine is feeble - far too weak to read by, for example. To boost this light, the team, who were participating in the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM), modified genetic material from fireflies and the luminescent marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri to boost the production and activity of light-yielding enzymes. They then made further modifications to create genetic components or "BioBricks" that can be inserted into a genome.

The team managed to produce a range of colours by putting these genes into the Escherichia coli bacterium. They found that a volume of bacterial culture about the size of a regular wine bottle gave off enough light to read by.

"We didn't end up making bioluminescent trees, which was the inspiration for the project," says team member Theo Sanderson, who is studying genetics. "But we decided to make a set of parts that would allow future researchers to use bioluminescence more effectively." The team presented its findings earlier this month at the iGEM Jamboree, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

One major obstacle to harnessing bioluminescence is that the process relies on a class of compounds called luciferins. They emit light and are then converted into oxyluciferin, which cannot produce light. To counter this, the Cambridge team found a way to engineer BioBricks that would enable organisms to produce enzymes to recycle oxyluciferin.

Bioluminescent plants could appeal especially to people whose homes are not wired up to the electricity grid. These living lights have no breakable parts, and new lights can be made simply by growing more of them. The team calculates that for a bioluminescent tree to compete with a street light, only 0.02 per cent of the energy absorbed for photosynthesis would need to be diverted into light production.

[Don B.]

That's just cool.

--don

[M II A II R II K]

Would be cool to buy and grow your own bio-luminescent plants. And there could be bio-luminescent parks with all kinds of plants and trees in it, would look just like Avatar!

[ChiTownCity]

sounds pretty cool for suburbs and parks and a couple avenues but nothing more...

[Lecom]

This is awesome, but I hope it doesn't mess with the associated natural environment too much. Bright building illumination over Manhattan, for instance, really screws up migratory seasons for birds, to an extent where most building owners have agreed to dim/turn off their building illumination twice a year during migratory seasons.

[Lost Island]

^I'd tend to have the same concern with anything as radically tweaked from it's natural state. Somehow though, I don't think any kind of glowing trees would be as bright as the artist's conception indicates. I imagine how it might look cool if they turned different colors in the fall, though.

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by Lost Island

^I'd tend to have the same concern with anything as radically tweaked from it's natural state. Somehow though, I don't think any kind of glowing trees would be as bright as the artist's conception indicates. I imagine how it might look cool if they turned different colors in the fall, though.

I'm no zoologist, but as far as I know, even minor tweaks with nature can wreak havoc. Let's say the various colors disrupt some bugs' breeding cycle, affecting their population level, which in turn devastates the birds they feed on, etc.

Faced with the pigeon problem, some architects designed a building (forgot which one) in the NYC that provided no ledges for pigeons to perch on. In two months they were receiving tons of complaints from the tenants because spiders, now predator-free, bread rampant on the facade and began to invade the interior.

[Lost Island]

Originally Posted by Lecom

Let's say the various colors disrupt some bugs' breeding cycle, affecting their population level, which in turn devastates the birds they feed on, etc.

Not to mention light attracts bugs, period. This genetic invention may never get past the test lot.

[M II A II R II K]

Bugs used to use the moon as a guide, bugs have been disrupted since there have been streetlights and stuff.

Perhaps these modified trees can appear in just tourist areas and perhaps one can develop a forest of bioluminescence and charge admission. Bioluminescent Botanical Gardens.

[M II A II R II K]

Originally Posted by Lost Island

Not to mention light attracts bugs, period. This genetic invention may never get past the test lot.

Unless they add those anti-mosquito lantern things in the branches.

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Bugs used to use the moon as a guide, bugs have been disrupted since there have been streetlights and stuff.

Perhaps these modified trees can appear in just tourist areas and perhaps one can develop a forest of bioluminescence and charge admission. Bioluminescent Botanical Gardens.

Or perhaps these can be planted in an indoor setting? Imagine a winter garden glowing with these trees late at night

[MolsonExport]

Is James Cameron getting into urban infrastructure planning?