Plants were immersed in the solution and then exposed to high pressure, allowing the particles to enter the leaves through tiny pores called stomata. To get the particles into plant leaves, the researchers first suspended the particles in a solution. The researchers used silica nanoparticles about 10 nanometers in diameter to carry luciferase, and they used slightly larger particles of the polymers PLGA and chitosan to carry luciferin and coenzyme A, respectively. They also prevent the components from reaching concentrations that could be toxic to the plants. Food and Drug Administration classifies as “generally regarded as safe,” help each component get to the right part of the plant. The nanoparticles, which are all made of materials that the U.S. The MIT team packaged each of these three components into a different type of nanoparticle carrier. Another molecule called co-enzyme A helps the process along by removing a reaction byproduct that can inhibit luciferase activity. Luciferase acts on a molecule called luciferin, causing it to emit light. To create their glowing plants, the MIT team turned to luciferase, the enzyme that gives fireflies their glow. It’s a perfect problem for plant nanobionics.” “We think this is an idea whose time has come. “Plants can self-repair, they have their own energy, and they are already adapted to the outdoor environment,” Strano says. Lighting, which accounts for about 20 percent of worldwide energy consumption, seemed like a logical next target.

The researchers have previously designed plants that can detect explosives and communicate that information to a smartphone, as well as plants that can monitor drought conditions. The group’s goal is to engineer plants to take over many of the functions now performed by electrical devices. Plant nanobionics, a new research area pioneered by Strano’s lab, aims to give plants novel features by embedding them with different types of nanoparticles. MIT postdoc Seon-Yeong Kwak is the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Nano Letters. This technology could also be used to provide low-intensity indoor lighting, or to transform trees into self-powered streetlights, the researchers say. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior author of the study. The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. “The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp - a lamp that you don’t have to plug in. They believe that, with further optimization, such plants will one day be bright enough to illuminate a workspace. By embedding specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, they induced the plants to give off dim light for nearly four hours.

MIT engineers have taken a critical first step toward making that vision a reality. Imagine that instead of switching on a lamp when it gets dark, you could read by the light of a glowing plant on your desk.

Xonotic glow plant map