Utilizing Synthetic Biology to Engineer Novel Plant Transcriptional Regulators for Precise Control of Autoluminescent Plants

Plant transcription factors provide an opportunity for precise control of gene regulation at the transcriptional level. This research focuses on the validation and optimization of the Q-system, a novel plant transcriptional regulator capable of multigene activation and suppression. The ultimate goal of these developments is for the utilization of transcriptional regulation to develop inducible, luminescent plants. To highlight the developments necessary for this achievement, this research examines the history and current state of autoluminescent plants, to determine how the convergence of the Q-system and fungal luminescence system could generate inducible autoluminescent plants. These inducible, autoluminescent plants could be utilized to visualize gene expression, employed as reporter plants, or even implemented as a renewable light source.