Yes CT, there really are flowers that glow in the dark. Why do they light it at night?

The world of genetics has indeed had a tremendous impact on our lives. There is a lot of talk in the news about GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. Labels even warn us about the presence of these cultures in our foods. I wanted to share a new plant called Petunia Firefly. It wasn’t the fireflies, but the fungi that gave this plant its ability to shine. This is known as bioluminescence in the world of biology.

Through feats of genetic engineering, a gene is taken from one organism and placed in another. This is where people worry. Humans, however, have been doing this for hundreds of years. The most beautiful or productive organisms were bred together for the next generation. This is called selective breeding, and it essentially concentrates useful versions of genes in the offspring.

Now what is determined to be the most beautiful is truly in the eye of the beholder. Some people, for example, select for white flowers in a species with normally purple flowers, Echinacea purpurea. Some have even taken things a step further and crossed different types of plants to get new flower colors. In nature, individual species have evolved isolation mechanisms to preserve their identity. When our plant breeders force a species boundary crossing, most of the time it was done with closely related plant species within the same genus. An excellent example of this is the cross of Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower, with Echinacea paradoxa, the yellow coneflower. This is done to obtain hybrid offspring that have red or orange flowers. These were crossed with the parent varieties so they have the same habit and growth form but with new colored flowers.

However, this hybridization never really caught on, as the plants were very closely related anyway. Most modern GMOs, such as our Firefly Petunia, are not obtained through “natural” pollination processes, but through genetic manipulation. Scientists literally take one or more genes from one species and put them into another. These species are not closely related, so it can become an ethical conundrum. Here, one might ask whether we should take a gene from a fungus and put it into a plant. A similar circumstance was seen more than twenty years ago in the aquarium industry, where genes from corals and jellyfish were put into tropical fish to make them fluorescent Glofish.

In terms of ethics, I cannot tell you what to think, or what is right or wrong. Each of us will have to answer this question for ourselves. It reminds me of a quote from Jurassic Park, where Dr. Ian Malcolm says “…your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to consider whether they should.” The real question is where do we go from here. For the fish, it was type after type of Glofish, and for me, the novelty started to wear off. After all, how many species will become fluorescent before it becomes boring? Now for our plants, will we have streets lined with lighted trees to eliminate the need for street lights? Will we have glowing houseplants that function as night lights? Ultimately, it will be up to you, the consumer.

To me, this is just cool science. We ship and plant petunias worldwide. Will these glowing petunias cause any harm? Probably not, since none of the others have. When I go outside at night to walk the dog and see the bioluminescent petunias, it puts a smile on my face. It reminds me of the fact that we as humans are capable of many things. I can’t help but wonder if this would inspire a sense of reverence and wonder in our children. Perhaps some may even study genetics because of these petunias. What if one of them ends up finding a cure for a debilitating human disease, all because of a glowing plant? And while some may say that this dream of mine is pure science fiction, need I remind you that this is what glow plants were like a few years ago?

For your gardening questions, feel free to contact us, toll-free, at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at www.ladybug.uconn.edu or contact your local center of Cooperative Extension.