Building customizable auto-luminescent luciferase-based reporters in plants

First author: Arjun Khakhar; Affiliations: University of Minnesota (明尼苏达大学): Minneapolis, USA

Corresponding author: Daniel F Voytas

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.

植物体内自发生物发光的化学反应

生物发光（bioluminescence）是科学家广泛用于动植物基因表达报告的有力生物学信号。然而，由于需要向这些报告系统提供底物，因而存在某些不可避免的缺陷，比如说成本太高，而且组织侵透不均匀。本文中，作者通过一个由各零件组成、可组合的工具在植物体内重构了一个真菌的生物发光通路FBP。试验显示该系统可以在多个植物、不同组织中均能够生物发光，并且不需要额外添加底物。作者还通过实例显示了可以将该系统部署到植物中，建立自发生物发光报告，用于基因表达和激素流动检测。同时，作者还给出了一个低成本的基因表达谱呈像平台。这些试验技术可用于搭建可编程的自发生物发光植物性状报告系统，比如说由光驱动的植物-授粉者互作，或是发光植物感受器。

通讯：Daniel F Voytas (https://cbs.umn.edu/contacts/daniel-voytas-phd)

研究方向：植物DNA的精确编辑。

doi: 10.7554/eLife.52786

Journal: eLife

Published date: March 25, 2020