Could Glow-in-the-Dark Tobacco Plants Light Up the Living Rooms of the Future?

Glowing plants - as seen in the seemingly fantastical flora of the 2009 film Avatar - are no longer just a special effect. Molecular biologist Alexander Krichevsky, of St Louis biotech company Bioglow, has developed the Starlight Avatar, a genetically modified tobacco plant that glows in the dark, as a first step towards a world in which our highways and homes might be illuminated not with electricity but with the luminescent glow of plant life. … Bioglow is holding an online auction of 20 Starlight Avatar plants for those in the US who are curious about seeing the luminescent wonders for themselves.

''There are no naturally occurring glowing/bioluminescent plants in nature,'' Krichevsky says. ''While there are a number of various glowing species - fireflies, glow worms, glowing fish etc, there are no glowing plants. Starlight Avatar is the first one.''

He says that ostensibly ''bioluminescent'' plants have existed for about 20 years, mostly for research purposes.

''These plants, however, needed to be sprayed with chemicals to achieve a temporary and very weak glowing effect, or be illuminated by UV lights,''...