This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) have developed a new way to make glowing biological reporters more accurate, allowing scientists to track gene activity in living plants over days, weeks and potentially even months and years. The approach could help researchers study how plants respond to disease, pests and environmental stress, while opening the door to similar applications in animal and human disease models.
Published today in Nature Plants, the study addresses a longstanding challenge in autoluminescence imaging, a technique that enables organisms to generate their own light without the need for added chemicals or specialized laboratory equipment. The research was led by scientists working in Karen Sarkisyan's group and collaborators from Light Bio and international partner institutions. Scientists often use light-producing reporter systems to monitor when genes switch on and off.
However, in self-sustaining luminescent systems, light output is affected not only by gene activity but also by changes in metabolism, temperature, oxygen levels and other factors. This makes it difficult to determine whether changes in brightness truly reflect biological activity or simply shifts in the organism's physiological state. To overcome this problem, the researchers engineered a new red-shifted version of a fungal luciferase and paired it with a green luminescent reporter.
By measuring the ratio between the two colors rather than overall brightness, they created a system that remains reliable even when metabolism changes. The approach effectively transforms autoluminescence from a qualitative indicator into a quantitative measurement tool, providing a more accurate picture of what is happening inside living organisms. The team demonstrated the technique in plants, tracking key defense and immune signaling pathways.
Using the new dual-color reporters, they were able to monitor hormone-driven responses over extended periods and detect localized immune activity around sites of infection, even when differences in metabolism caused large variations in overall brightness. The system worked across both fungal and bacterial bioluminescence pathways, suggesting it could be adapted for a wide range of biological applications. "One of the biggest limitations of self-sustained luminescence has been that the brightness of the signal depends on both gene expression and metabolism.
By introducing a second color as an internal reference, we can separate those effects and obtain a much more reliable readout of what's happening inside a living organism," said Sarkisyan, group head at the LMS and co-corresponding author of the study. "This turns autoluminescence from a qualitative tool into a quantitative one. In practice, it means researchers can monitor molecular processes over long periods simply by taking photographs in the dark, without expensive equipment or invasive treatments." Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly.
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