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.

中文翻译：

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在植物中构建可自定义的基于自发光荧光素酶的报道分子

生物发光是一种强大的生物信号，科学家已将其重新用作报告基因，以在动植物中表达。然而，与向这些报道分子提供底物的需要相关的缺点包括其高成本和不均匀的组织渗透。在这项工作中，我们使用可组合的零件工具箱在植物中重建了真菌生物发光途径（FBP）。我们证明FBP可以在广泛的植物中创建跨各种组织的发光而无需外部底物添加。我们还将展示如何使用我们的工具箱在工厂中部署FBP建立用于显示基因表达和激素通量的自发光报告基因。还描述了一种用于基因表达谱分析的低成本成像平台。这些实验为将来构建可编程的自动发光植物性状奠定了基础，例如，光驱动植物-授粉媒介相互作用或基于发光植物的传感器。