Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
James C Chamness
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Nayoung Lee
Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Sydney Stokke
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Cecily Wang
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Ryan Swanson
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Furva Rizvi
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
Takato Imaizumi
Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Department Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
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.
