Genetically modified plants glow in the dark.

The sun is the most powerful source of light, but it has limitations, so we’ve invented artificial sources over the years. Perhaps it’s time to look at nature for inspiration.

As an example of an innovative project, a group of designers is aspiring to create glowing plants that use synthetic biology.

Essentially, the plants will be genetically modified, allowing them to glow, which in the long run may replace gas or electric lighting solutions. The minds behind the venture state “We are using Synthetic Biology techniques and Genome Compiler’s software to insert bioluminescence genes into Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant and member of the mustard family, to make a plant that visibly glows in the dark.”

The process of creating the plants is complex, as new DNA sequences have to be printed from the software’s compilation. The plants are then transformed when that DNA is inserted into a type of bacteria and the flowers are placed into the solution.

The bacteria brings the DNA sequence to the nucleus of the flowers and passes it on to the seeds. The end result is a glow-in-the-dark plant.