A photo from open sources
The tradition of decorating the Christmas and New Year tree has centuries-old history. In XVI, apples and sweets. Then the place on the branches was taken by colored balls and toys. Yet one obligatory attribute of a forest beauty since the middle of the XIX century became the backlight in the form of candles, which later replaced the electric Garlands. Now the 21st century is outside the window, and scientists propose creating for forest beauties Christmas lights in the spirit of the new time. British Genetics from the University of Hertfordshire (University of Hertfordshire) came up with how to use genetic engineering to force Christmas tree needles emit their own light. For this they are going transplanted ate two genes taken from jellyfish and fireflies. One of them responsible for the production of green fluorescent protein and the second produces the enzyme luciferase. Young escape planned to infect harmless bacterium that carries the necessary genes and embeds them in the DNA of the tree. Then using the chemical substance luciferin, included in the fertilizer, an enzyme will be activated, which in turn, “turn on” the luminous protein. As a result, the modified the needles will glow both in the dark and in daylight. No matter how fantastic this idea may seem, in its development scientists relied on previous successful scientific work. Earlier silk, potatoes and glowing in the dark were created in a similar way even mice and pigs. The only problem that the authors see The project is the price of an amazing Christmas tree. According to their calculations, this a tree will cost about $ 320 and will not be affordable to everyone. However, they believe that such an unusual product in any case will be in demand. An idea has potential for development. After all not so long ago, blue and red fluorescent were discovered in nature squirrels. So in the future you can create Christmas and New Year trees that will emit a multi-colored glow.
DNA
