Mushrooms are not unusual!

Mushrooms are not unusual! In the dark night, all TAs can glow

Mushrooms are not unusual! It’s not uncommon for TAs to glow in the dark and mushrooms glow! In the dark night, all TAs can glow

Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin

Have you crossed into the realm of the movie "Avatar"? In the dark night, unplugged, unwired, fungi, plants, and a large number of aquatic creatures glow.
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With the Conference of the Parties "Convention on Biological Diversity", held in Kunming, China 15th meeting (COP15) session draws near, biodiversity known for some organisms specific to Yunnan, have also been turns "inventory", which China Ke Xueyuan A fluorescent fungus in the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden has become a "darling"
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People issued a series of follow-up questions: "Why do mushrooms glow?" "Which other organisms can glow?" "What imagination can light-emitting organisms bring to future technology?" .
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To this end, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed scientists in related fields
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There are at least 97 species of glowing mushrooms!

Taylor Lockwood is a famous American mushroom photographer
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In August 2013, he never imagined that he would have an unforgettable "random encounter" during the "Digital Technology Monitoring Rainforest Dynamics Training Course" at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan, China

"I was walking through a bamboo forest on my way home after dinner and came across glowing mushrooms
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The obvious feature is the side handles and wide spherical holes

However, until the summer of that year, the scientific community apparently didn't know that this genus of collopores would glow
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"This kind of thumb-sized mushrooms will only grow on the roots of bamboos that were chopped down and rotted in the Baizhu Garden in the past year, and will glow green at night
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We observed that during the initial hyphae stage and the final stage At the maturity stage of the entity, its light is particularly bright

2018, China Kexue Yuan Kunming Institute of Botany, woody resources to explore and build a team of agroforestry systems Xu Jian early research group in collaboration with Indian scientists carried out a number of joint inspection tour in north-east India
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The expedition team also found a luminous fungus of the genus Rorydola on the dead bamboo stems of a bamboo forest in Meghalaya State.

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"Luminescent fungi rely on luciferase to emit light.
When luciferin is catalyzed by luciferase to react with oxygen, it will emit light from its fruit body or mycelium
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" Researcher Xu Jianchu introduced, Due to its wide application in medicine, agriculture, and ecological environment sensors, bioluminescent fungi have always received great attention from people

According to a report in the April 2021 issue of "Everything", Australia has a kind of fluorescein bacteria called "ghost fungus", which also has the ability of bioluminescence.
It can produce luciferin chemicals.
When chemical reactions occur, it will Release energy in the form of green fluorescence
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"Some people think that this kind of light can attract insects that help fungi to spread spores, but there is no final conclusion

Xu Jianchu told the reporter of Science and Technology Daily that the research and utilization of luminescent fungi have great potential
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Recently, his team is not only continuing to study the luminescent fungi discovered earlier, but also successively discovering luminescent fungi in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province and other places, which are awaiting publication

From the outside to the inside, the understanding of luminous organisms is gradually deepening

From the outside to the inside, the understanding of luminous organisms is gradually deepening

Luminous creatures are wonderful creations in nature.
In addition to fungi and bacteria, plants and animals have some luminous groups
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From bacteria to fish, there are thousands of luminous organisms in the ocean

According to literature reports, in Oyster Bay in Jamaica and some places in Puerto Rico, people often see the phenomenon of "phosphorescence" in the sea, which is the result of the accumulation of luminous plant dinoflagellate
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Under the disturbance or impact of seawater, a piece of dinoflagellate can emit light of 0.
1 microwatt per square centimeter.
When dinoflagellate gathers together in the dark, the light emitted is enough to attract attention
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According to reports and analysis, dinoflagellate is the bait for a variety of small zooplankton
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The gathered dinoflagellate glows in the turbulent sea water, which makes it impossible for the zooplankton to eat at ease
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Therefore, the chance of predation of dinoflagellate can be reduced
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In addition, light marks can also expose the location of these small animals, making it easier for fish and shrimp to catch them, thereby indirectly helping the dinoflagellate
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The luminescent jellyfish in the ocean has long been known to people, and the principle of jellyfish luminescent protein has seen a lot of scientific reports
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Scientists have discovered that many jellyfish can emit light
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Different from the light-emitting system of other animals, the light of jellyfish is based on a protein called Equelin.
When it encounters calcium ions, it emits a strong blue light
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It is said that each jellyfish contains only 50 micrograms of Equelin on average, but the light energy emitted is equivalent to 292.
6 kJ
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As for why jellyfish can store so much energy, it is largely a mystery
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In the dark depths of the ocean, there are often little lights of swimming, bringing life information to the tranquil underwater world
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Among the many glowing fish, the lantern fish is just one of them
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They have small circular illuminators on their bodies that emit a dazzling luster, and they are named after the illuminators resemble lanterns
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The illuminator emits various colors such as red, blue, and purple, and when viewed from a distance, the fluorescence is gleaming
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The light emitted can be used to trap prey, confuse natural enemies, and lure spouses to facilitate group life
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The fireflies that "hang lanterns" on land are the stars of luminous creatures
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"Bioluminescence is one of the most interesting phenomena of evolutionary biology, mainly for vigilance and courtship exchange
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Therefore, since Darwin's time or even earlier, with a bioluminescence groups to attract many biologists
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" China Ke Xueyuan animal studies Kunming According to Dong Zhiwei, the laboratory teacher, fireflies are the most famous terrestrial luminescent organisms.
The limited geographic distribution and population rarity of some of these genera make the relationship of molecular phylogeny still uncertain, limiting the origin and evolution of bioluminescence.
An interesting discussion
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Dong Zhiwei and his colleague Liu Guichun and others cooperated with Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chen Xing and others to use second-generation genome shallow sequencing to sequence a total of 15 genera and 23 species of Asian firefly samples collected by Kunming Institute of Zoology since 2002, and obtain mitochondrial genome and Ribosomal DNA, including the mitochondrial genome and ribosomal DNA of 22 firefly species of 11 genera, were reported for the first time
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In-depth studies have shown that the common ancestor of fireflies has adult bioluminescence
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These work have also perfected the phylogeny of Asian fireflies and provided important data for in-depth revealing of the phylogenetic relationships of fireflies in the world
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Bright prospects, research and application of luminous organisms

Bright prospects, research and application of luminous organisms

As a natural phenomenon, bioluminescence was first applied to marine fishing.
Fishermen distinguished fish schools based on different "sea fires" to improve fishing efficiency
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"Sea Fire" can also point out submerged reefs and shoals for navigators to avoid shipwreck accidents
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In the early days, "sea fire" could also be used in the military to find enemy ships and determine the direction of torpedoes and submarines
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The principle of bioluminescence can also be used in the manufacture of new light sources, such as fluorescent lamps and various energy-saving lamps currently used
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Biological light does not generate heat.
If this kind of light source is used in explosive storage depots and mines filled with flammable and explosive gases, chemical weapons depots and ammunition depots, it will be the safest lighting facility
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If used on the battlefield, it has good concealment and is not easy to expose the target
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Biological light sources are in urgent need of successful development
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According to a report by our reporter Dong Yingbi from Moscow on May 6, 2020, researchers from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Biology of Moscow University used gene transplantation to transfer several genes of the luminous mushroom to the DNA of tobacco.
In, for the first time cultivated plants that can glow at night
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Professor Vladimir Chubb, manager of the Botanical Garden of Biology of Moscow University, said that for many years, Russian researchers have been trying to transplant light-emitting genes from fireflies and bacteria to cultivate light-emitting plants, but they have not been successful for a long time
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Previously, when they were studying bioluminescence such as mushrooms, they found that luminescence is caused by very subtle reactions, and the substances needed for luminescence can be found in plants
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In later research, Russian researchers transferred several genes of the luminous mushroom into the tobacco DNA, and then cultivated a tobacco plant with a much higher luminous brightness than mushrooms
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Vladimir Chubb said that research has found that the light emitted by genetically modified plants varies greatly.
The young branches of plants, especially flowers, emit brighter light.
The light emitted constantly changes, which can show strangeness on the leaves of plants.
Patterns and waves, the intensity of bioluminescence will also change during the day
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He also said that the stable luminescence of plants will not produce toxic substances, nor will it affect the normal growth and development of plants
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Genetically modified

Studies have found that after turning off the lights, the luminous brightness of tobacco will increase rapidly
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If the light is turned off for a few days, the plant will continue to glow according to its own biological clock
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This indicates that the mechanism of bioluminescence reflects the metabolic rate of plants, including mechanical damage
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If you use a knife to cut the plant, you can use a special method to find out how the location of the wound starts to glow, and the plant’s "pain" signal quickly spreads through the nerves
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"Study on the mechanism of light-emitting plants can make us discover unexpected phenomena: if we hurt a plant, it will feel pain like an injured person
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" Vladimir Chubb said
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Some experts pointed out that if the results obtained in tobacco are transferred to flowers, many luminous plants that can be used to decorate houses and public places can be developed.
Therefore, this scientific research result has good commercial prospects
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In addition, some luminescent bacteria have been isolated and are being cultured in the laboratory
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Because toxic chemicals, heavy metal ions, antibiotics, chemotherapeutics, pesticides, etc.
can affect the luminescence of bacteria, researchers use luminescent bacteria as sensitive indicators to determine the content of toxic and harmful substances
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Researchers in some hospitals are also using bacterial biolight to measure the dose of drugs that can safely and effectively kill cancer tumors
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With the luminescence properties of fluorescent proteins, since 2018, Peking University's Li Yulong laboratory has developed a series of genetically encoded fluorescent probes for monitoring neurotransmitters, namely the GRAB probe series, which includes dopamine probes
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Li Yulong told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that the most important and interesting method they have innovated is "let cells shine by themselves
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Recently, they have successfully developed an optimized second-generation green fluorescent probe with brighter fluorescence and more significant signal changes when combined with neurotransmitters
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In addition, the new red fluorescent probe can realize the monitoring of dopamine, from the previous single green fluorescence to multicolor fluorescence
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Therefore, the new probe can be more easily used in combination with other important technologies in the field of neuroscience, such as calcium imaging and optogenetics
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The new probes also provide new possibilities for the optimization of related drug screening
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