Glow-in-The-Dark Plants? Bloom-inescence!

Humans have always been fascinated by light, from the discovery of fire hundreds of thousands of years ago to the invention of the lightbulb, and more recently, lasers, television screens, and neon lights. Light has been present around us for our entire lives in both natural and artificial forms, but aside from the occasional firefly at dusk, we rarely see it in living things.

However, only with the advent of genetic engineering in the last century have we been able to create light biologically rather than electrically. In 1986, a group of scientists at the University of California, San Diego, transplanted a gene from fireflies into a tobacco plant through a tumor-producing plasmid, causing it to glow lightly when exposed to the chemical used in fireflies. While it was not lit enough to see well with the naked eye, proof of the experiment’s success came in the form of photographic film placed near the plant that clearly lit up. The gene used is known as the luciferase gene, which encodes the details for an enzyme that acts as a catalyst to produce light in fireflies. Fireflies use luciferin, a chemical that works with the luciferase enzyme, oxygen, and ATP—cellular fuel—to produce light in a special organ in their abdomens. When implemented in plants, this light is much dimmer because it is distributed among the different structures rather than concentrated in one place.

Despite the apparent success of the firefly gene in a tobacco plant, scientists sought alternative methods that were more sustainable and more efficient, as well as ones that produced enough light to illuminate a larger space. A paper, published in January 2024, described a new method for producing bioluminescence imaging using a fungus called Neonothopanus nambi. N. nambi uses a different system from the firefly, instead implementing an acid cycle involving both luciferin (the chemical that luciferase oxidizes) and various acids. When the fungal luciferin is oxidized, energy stored in its chemical bonds is reduced and released in the form of photons. The chemical then goes through a cycle of changes by different enzymes that turn it back into luciferin. This was an optimal method for transplantation into other organisms because it was less toxic to other biological systems and worked better in larger organisms.

This was soon taken up by the company Light Bio, which used this pathway in petunia plants to create glow-in-the-dark flowers that produced a steady, autonomous light. Immediately, they became extremely in-demand to light up outdoor spaces easily and aesthetically, though they charge a high price of $40 and do not last through the year very easily.

However, potential competition arose in the last few weeks after a paper published on August 27th, 2025, by scientists at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou gained popularity for describing yet another way to create glowing plants using an injection of phosphors, or afterglowing particles, composed of strontium, aluminum, and other metals. Rather than creating light through bioluminescence, this chemical absorbs light of a certain wavelength and emits it at a different, more specific wavelength, which was engineered to be a hue of blue, green, or red. The correct wavelength and hue were found using trial and error, in which scientists changed the particles’ composition and size. Smaller particles were too faint, and larger ones would be blocked in the plant’s pathways. They landed on a size of seven micrometers (around 0.0003 inches), or the size of a red blood cell.

This same chemical is used in glow-in-the-dark stickers and toys, and only lasts a few hours after initial exposure. The team of scientists injects each leaf with the particles, a process that takes around 10 minutes. Then, the plant glows for up to 120 minutes continuously, and this glow can be retriggered with new exposure to light.

Although the potential of this new technology seems perfect, there are still drawbacks. The glow does not last as long as the bioluminescent but is rather wrongly named Firefly Petunias (the flowers made by Light Bio, which do not actually contain any genetic material from a firefly), and the project is too new to have conclusive results on how this might affect the health of the plant. Additionally, there are questions about the safe disposal of these plants, as they contain foreign chemicals that may create extra waste.

While this whole project is still in its early stages, one can only imagine the possibilities. Rather than streetlamps, a neighborhood’s lawns could be illuminated by colorful little plants, and rather than using nightlights, children could fall asleep to the ambient light of a succulent.