Do glowing plants offer a brighter future?

Filed in archive Biotech on March 20, 2006

From the world of biotechnology, Reuters reports that:

"Students at Singapore Polytechnic say they have created a plant that can communicate with people -- by glowing when it needs water.

The students said on Tuesday that they have genetically modified a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it "lights up" when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

The light is hard to detect with the naked eye but can be seen using an optical sensor developed in collaboration with students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. The development of such plants could help farmers to develop more efficient irrigation of crops."

But do we really need jellyfish genes and optical sensors to tell us when our plants need water? Can't a skilled farmer tell that without resorting to such high-tech solutions? To me, this crosses the line between use and abuse of technology. I don't doubt that there could be situations where redesigning plants could have benefits, but this doesn't seem to be one of them. Rather, these students have taken genes from an animal and used them to modify a plant simply to benefit those of us who lack the common sense to recognize when our plants are thirsty.

This kind of engineering for convenience is surely based on a different attitude toward nature than the one expressed in this poem by Cedric Wright:

"Consider the life of trees
Aside from the axe, what trees acquire from man is inconsiderable.
What man may acquire from trees is immeasurable.
From their mute forms there flows a poise, in silence,
A lovely sound and motion in response to wind.
What peace comes to those aware of the voice and bearing of trees!"

But their forms may be mute no more, if we engineer them to glow, whistle or perhaps just send us a text message to get off the couch and water them.

I sometimes fear we are using biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology to train nature to better speak our language at the same time that we are becoming less and less capable of listening to hers.