Glow-in-the-dark plants to replace streetlights? Forget it

There are bad products of products that make you sigh, then there are those that you absolutely hate. For me, the shiny plants created by pumping leaves full of phosphorescent chemicals are firmly in this last category.

These plants were created by researchers from South China Agricultural University, who affirm in a study published today that plants have “unprecedented brightness” and are a step towards “sustainable and environmentally friendly lighting systems”.

People have been trying to create brilliant plants for decades. The big challenge is to make the glow brilliant enough for our eyes to see it. A Kickstarter 2013 project collected almost half a million dollars, but failed to deliver.

Last year, US Biotech Company Light Bio launched the Firefly Petunia, the first genetically modified brilliant factory to be on sale commercially. He claims that the brightness of the plant is “similar to the moonlight”, but to judge by photos on social networks, we are not talking about here.

There is a reason why it is so difficult. The plants derive their energy from light, but photosynthesis is extremely ineffective. It is estimated that most plants capture less than 2% of the light that falls there, and they need part of this energy captured to survive and develop. This leaves little precious to turn into light.

The essential is that the conversion of energy captured by the photosynthesis in light will never provide trees that can replace the lampposts. This ineffectiveness is probably also the reason why almost all animals fly the energy captured by plants rather than worrying about photosynthesizing (and why put solar panels in farms beats biofuels).

For this reason, some groups have rather tried to physically add persistent phosphores to adult plants. We are talking about compounds here that make things such as stick stars on the ceiling shine for a certain time after being exposed to light, a phenomenon known as the luminescence of remanence.

Some persistent phosphores are much more effective than photosynthesis, which means more lighting for the same amount of light. But now, researchers in China have found that such a distribution is easily carried out in succulents such as Fare “Mebina”, allowing them to create shiny phosphorescent plants of different colors by injecting phosphores into each sheet by hand.

It is hardly more than a cheap gadget. Do not get me wrong, I like the idea of ​​real brilliant plants. I could even buy a firefly petunia if they were available outside the United States. But make the plants shine by physically injecting brilliant compounds. At the very least, the glow will fade if these plants survive and grow. There is also a potential pollution problem when plants die and are eliminated.

OK, it is not as contrary to ethics as the practice of dyeing aquarium fish, but it is just as tasteless as the tincture of blue roses. (No, I don’t have any Alice in Wonderland MOMENT – You can really buy painted roses.) Nor the discussion in the team document on environmental and safety aspects of plants with high levels of phosphores in their leaves. I questioned the researchers on this subject, but I had not answered when writing the editorial’s moment.

Now, if the plants were genetically designed to make their own persistent phosphores which are completely biodegradable, it would be another story. In fact, giving plants this capacity could even stimulate the efficiency of photosynthesis. Being able to temporarily “store” light could even help fluctuations at light levels, convert the unusable wavelengths into those usable and allow photosynthesis to continue in the night. One day, perhaps whole fields shine in the dark.

In the meantime, I hope that false brilliant plants created by injecting phosphores never reach the shelves of stores – but I fear rather than do it.