Firefly Petunias and More!

[@sheiselwilliams1]

WOW, Those are amazing petunias. It's very interesting how they achieved the bioluminescence. I agree a bioluminescent orchid would be wonderful.

[@plantpropagator]

Thanks - have not heard back from them - I assume that they will not respond which is too bad.

[@sheiselwilliams1]

@@plantpropagatorThat's too bad. 😢

[@justinandnikkitriquet413]

Our clones from our outdoor firefly petunias grow inside in a aeroponic tower garden. When we take them out of their individual receptical, their roots hang and they glow beautifully as well. Light Bio are genius

[@plantpropagator]

OK but I do not think that glowing roots was their intent - that was probably just a bonus based on the DNA that they used and the tissue that you observed. I contacted them for more information on how the genes were regulated but they never responded. I THINK that they used a gene that is active in most of the rapidly growing parts of the plants and visualization may be masked by other pigments - so no chlorophyll in the roots and no anthocyanin pigments in the flower (white flowers). It was very cool to see the flowers at night - it is WAY brighter than the earliest generations of these types of plants. Thanks for your comment!!

[@justinandnikkitriquet413]

@@plantpropagator Woods is the most difficult one of their small crew to get a return email from. I would reckon that their purpose was for the whole plant to glow, which would include their roots. :) They glow brighter than the leaves, almost as bright as the open blooms. Since it is the gene from Omphalotus Nidiformis injected directly into the complex metabolic system of the petunia, why wouldn't the roots glow. Anyway, it is amazing to watch the entire plant, naked, glowing inside in the dark. We have 45 of them now inside....quite a beautiful tower!

[@plantpropagator]

@@justinandnikkitriquet413 I bet that your plant tower looks very nice. You could make a video?..? I tried to contact them to also find out if they had any interest in orchid modification but they never followed up. I would have to make some small changes to their DNAs to enhance functionality of their genes in orchids but I would think that would work.

[@justinandnikkitriquet413]

@@plantpropagator Now that they've partnered with Ginko, the next round of plants which will come out within the next 2 years, are much brighter and encompass more plants, they have stated.

[@lucash7012]

@@justinandnikkitriquet413where was this announced? Curious to get more info on how much brighter and what other plants will be released!

[@robertiliev6560]

I admire your beautiful glowing petunias and wanted to ask if you might have any seeds from flowers that have finished blooming. I would love to grow them, as the ones I previously (two times) ordered unfortunately didn’t survive shipping. It would be great to finally try growing them again.

[@plantpropagator]

Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, after growing them for some time, I sacrificed the plants to the Florida summer. Petunias do not perform well in the extreme heat that we have in Florida and I did not continue to propagate them. I also never collected seed so I am afraid that I cannot supply any to you - I am not even sure that they produced seed....

[@OrchidMarcus]

Those are pretty neat! Reminds me of like a super natural show/movie ha. I’ve got a white phal putting out a spike wish it had this!!!

[@plantpropagator]

In person, they are way cooler than I could capture in the video. It is very eerie to see the flowers glow with your own eyes.

[@marthaguthrie5672]

I was excited when I got a Firefly Petunia from my son for my birthday. It was amazing to see the flowers glow. Unfortunately after 3 months struggling to keep it alive it died 😔.

[@plantpropagator]

After I made my video, I ignored my plants and should have repotted and propagated them. I did use them for 2 different presentations that I gave to orchid groups which was really nice and well received. But, I am sorry to say that my plants are no longer with me either. They struggled in the Florida heat and I did not care for them like I should have. You and I both got to see something pretty special!!

[@Naturamorpho]

IT'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIVE!!!.... 😆😆 Now, jokes apart, lovely plants! Thank you for the story behind them!

[@plantpropagator]

It really is fascinating to see what biotech is capable of. Thanks for your comment!

[@improbabilitydrive6005]

I was wondering how thorough are the checks and research made before they are deregulated? I'm sure they checked if the genes will "leak" to other plants, or if there are secondary deleterious substances coded by the introduced genes, but have they checked on the effects they might pose to the real fireflies? I mean, even city lights are disrupting to their mating processes, so bioluminescent flowers might pose an even more serious problem to them!

[@plantpropagator]

Thanks for your comment. Genes do not transfer from one plant to another (unless they are closely related and compatible) and only if there is a pollinator or wind and close proximity in the case of wind pollination. If genes transferred between non related plants and/or organisms, we would all be in trouble. The deregulatory process is pretty thorough but you cannot predict all possible outcomes. I do think that lights from street lights and houses would be more of an issue than weakly luminescing flowers. The fireflies around my house in the summer time do not seem to be in decline. And, the luminescence genes are from a mushroom - not the firefly so it may be a different wavelength of emitted light. I do appreciate your concerns and, if they respond to me, I will ask them about this.

[@Naturamorpho]

@@plantpropagator Yes, the wavelength is key with these firefly interactions, so it is not so hard to make firefly safe luminescence, I would think. Different species of firefly are attracted to their specific wavelengths and so long as it is not a match, fluorescent flowers may be fine. But, if it is a match, then the consequences would be dire, would a fluorescent flower turn invasive in the woods, in places where city lights are not yet a problem. Ok, I AM looking for worst case scenarios, but that is what we should always be concerned about, right? Thank you!

[@improbabilitydrive6005]

@@plantpropagator My bad! I didn't express myself right! I meant "leaking" from a garden population into a wild population of the same kind of plant!

[@plantpropagator]

@@improbabilitydrive6005 There are no wild petunias that are native to the USA. This is addressed in their petition to deregulate. But, I am not an expert in this area. There are cultivated petunias around but they are not listed as invasive and, if outcrossing would occur, the introduced gene would not give any resultant petunias an advantage that would allow them to proliferate. This is also addressed. Many of the large companies that make transgenics have many experts on their staff that test and address these issues. Even with this, something unforeseen could come up. This is the case with all new crops - transgenic or not....

[@Naturamorpho]

@@plantpropagator Interesting points! When I write my futuristic best seller novel, I will surely create a scenario where a whole new ecological niche would have evolved around human introduced plant fluorescence, with forests of sparkling, fairy spirited fluorescent flowers attracting specialized fluorescence seeking pollinators. That one has to make it into the silver screen! Get me a meeting with Jim Cameron 😅😂

[@elpilarorchids]

well, that's something! im glad to have learned something new today, thank you! as a scientist, part of me is so completely scared of genetic engineering (not to mention what will happen when AI gets involved more than it already has), it would be so freakin sweet to have a glowing phal!!! while its not surprising there are glowing plants now, i wasn't aware that such a thing was available for the mass market already. thanks for sharing. man, time doesn't slow down, does it??

[@plantpropagator]

I am trying to keep up but it is tough, especially after I retired from active research!!

[@lucash7012]

Do you have any experience creating petunia polyploids? Interested in trying it with firefly petunias

[@plantpropagator]

I am sorry but I do not ay experience generating polyploids, although I am asked this a lot. The challenge is not the application of the chromosome doubling agent (which you need to be careful with since these compounds are mutagens) but the testing of the results to determine if a diploid or tetraploid has been made. Another question is the ploidy of this petunia. I contacted the people who made this petunia to ask what petunia cultivar they started with and they never answered. The petunia cultivar 'Mitchell' is a white petunia that is used a lot in plant transformation work and I assume that is what they used. Mitchell is diploid. But, they never responded so I do not know what they used to generate the Firefly petunia.

[@reallymattis8016]

Hey do you know if the seeds will carry-on the Gen modification?

[@plantpropagator]

The introduced genes are typically integrated into the nuclear DNA of the petunia, which means that they will be inherited just like any other native DNA in the plant. They could have used a non-seed bearing line (sterile) but I am pretty sure that they did not do that. So, this gene will be passed on through the pollen or seed parent. Thanks for watching and for your comment. And, Happy New Year!!

[@reallymattis8016]

@ do you happen to know anyone who has seeds form them?

[@plantpropagator]

@@reallymattis8016 Sorry but no, I do not know anyone who has seed from them. They are still selling plants but they are pretty expensive - and, they do not ship in the winter.

[@gwensullivan6026]

Will the gene pass to the next generation in the petunias?

[@plantpropagator]

Yes - the genes are integrated into the petunia genome and will behave like other genes. 1/4 of the seeds will not contain the genes, 3/4 will. I do not know if they used plants that will not produce seeds…

[@lucash7012]

@@plantpropagatoryou may have heard by now but some people in the firefly petunias Facebook group have confirmed that they seed and 50% of the seedlings glow, some brighter than others which may be the difference between heterozygous and homozygous individuals?