San Francisco Startup Works On Developing Plants That Could Light City Streets
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- When the sun goes down in the city, we use streetlights to light our way. But what if we could rely on glowing plants instead?
"We've developed a novel plant that glows in the dark using the latest tools and techniques that are known as synthetic biology," said Antony Evans of San Francisco's Glowing Plant.
The small biotech company is using genetic engineering to develop plants that give off their own light.
Chief scientist Kyle Taylor has discovered a way to add DNA to plant cells that causes them to produce the same chemical that makes fireflies glow. It hasn't been easy.
"I must admit, the moment we could actually see it, and get over the visibility threshold was 1) a huge relief, and 2) Oh thank God," Taylor told KPIX 5.
It's too faint to pick up on video, but a still camera with a long exposure shows the plants glowing away. The idea has sparked people's imaginations, causing $600,000 in presale orders.
"Really the goal of the Glowing Plant project was to create a product that symbolizes the advances that we're making and inspires people to imagine what else we can create," Evans said.
But the project is also inspiring fear. Environmental groups have complained about the uncontrolled creation of these types of genetically modified organisms.
"I think the conversation should be how should we use this tool rather than the knee-jerk reaction of, oh, it's bad, let's get rid of it," Taylor said.
The company said its discoveries will be open sourced, which means they will be freely available to the public. Glowing Plant has recently raised $400,000 in a Kickstarter public funding campaign.