Publications
eLifeMar 2020 |
9
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.52786

Building customizable auto-luminescent luciferase-based reporters in plants

Khakhar, Arjun; Starker, Colby G; Chamness, James C; Lee, Nayoung; Stokke, Sydney; Wang, Cecily; Swanson, Ryan; Rizvi, Furva; Imaizumi, Takato; Voytas, Daniel F
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
Bioluminescence is a powerful biological signal that scientists have repurposed as a reporter for gene expression in plants and animals. However, there are downsides associated with the need to provide a substrate to these reporters, including its high cost and non-uniform tissue penetration. In this work we reconstitute a fungal bioluminescence pathway (FBP) in planta using a composable toolbox of parts. We demonstrate that the FBP can create luminescence across various tissues in a broad range of plants without external substrate addition. We also show how our toolbox can be used to deploy the FBP in planta to build auto-luminescent reporters for the study of gene-expression and hormone fluxes. A low-cost imaging platform for gene expression profiling is also described. These experiments lay the groundwork for future construction of programmable auto-luminescent plant traits, such as light driven plant-pollinator interactions or light emitting plant-based sensors.
Product Used
Genes

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