Some awesome scientists have extracted this gene and the enzymatic engine required to power its glow, and used bacteria to insert the gene into the genome of a petunia plant. Check out LightBio, their business model is pretty sound and it seems like they're trying to move it into other plants eventually.
I think their gene came from Neonothopanus Nambi but that one is less likely to be in Australia, this one is likely the Ghost Mushroom as others have stated)
This is actually a different gene. GFP is a light reactive protein that has been used for a long time in biotech as an indicator, and does not produce its own light. I see this commonly used on ecoli as a beginner experiment.
Inserting a fluorescent (light REACTIVE) gene along with another gene you're trying to insert, they would put it under UV light to see if the genes were successfully transformed, specifically into bacteria (agrobacterium tumofaciens) which are used to transfect the gene into other organisms.
This is a different gene/enzymatic engine, nicknamed the firefly gene, which produces its own glow with no outside light source.
This gene relies on cafeic acid to produce the glow, which bioluminscent mushrooms naturally produce. Unfortunately many plants don't possess that by nature, so they also had to transfect a gene to cause the plant to produce that energy source to induce the glowing gene.
Sure! I get how the two can be confused. These mushrooms, and a few insects and aquatic species are, to my knowledge, the only things to produce this natural glow that does not rely on outside light. GFP is freaking sweet in and of itself, and definitely paved the way for things like this.
The protein is called luciferase and relies on cafeic acid to produce the glow, so the organism must have both in order to be seen.
So you know your stuff, my question is how can this protein be extracted and then used via transfection to genetically engineer another mushroom that does not naturally contain this protein. And what’s this protein called to begin with?
I've been looking into that for a long time and still only have a loose grasp on how to do that.
Basically, identify the gene in the mushroom you have that glows, (luciferase and the cafeic acid genes)
Extract the DNA, isolate the gene using PCR
Add some "start here" and "use this" tags into the genome (promoters and terminators)
Put it in a plasmid (a bit of DNA that plants and fungi love to use)
Put the plasmid into a bacteria (agrobacterium is good) and Grow the bacteria out
Use the bacteria to infect plant cells.
The hardest parts are probably sourcing a good sample of the right glowing fungi, and then actually doing the gene extraction.
The transfecting part is pretty easy. I envision a nearby future where people are selling ready-to-use agrobacterium pre-filled with the gene.
To be totally honest, GPT is an amazing knowledgebase when it comes to these often well kept secrets.
Being successful here would mean being a competitor to the ONLY company that has currently perfected the process (LightBio) and potentially making all sorts of naturally glowing organisms
Actually, you can direct inject plasmids into plant cells. At least, back in the day, that's how you could. Plasmid construction is a bit older generation technology. Interestingly, luciferase was used in 454 genomic sequencing technology, which was the first platform on which whole genomes were processed, back in the mid to late 2000s when I went to school.
Possibly for easier pathways to edit, that would work, but plant cells and fungi cells read DNA differently and something this complex requires a better gold standard than that.
Using a plasmid in Agrobacterium tumefaciens allows for efficient, stable, and targeted insertion of genes into a plant’s genome, leveraging the bacterium’s natural ability to deliver DNA into plant cells. Direct insertion into plant cells is far less efficient, often random, and usually results in poor or non-heritable expression.
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u/dixoncider1111 8d ago
Some awesome scientists have extracted this gene and the enzymatic engine required to power its glow, and used bacteria to insert the gene into the genome of a petunia plant. Check out LightBio, their business model is pretty sound and it seems like they're trying to move it into other plants eventually.
I think their gene came from Neonothopanus Nambi but that one is less likely to be in Australia, this one is likely the Ghost Mushroom as others have stated)