The Veins that Dreamed of Light: Memories of the Dawn and Failure of Synthetic Biology (2014)
Glowing Plant was one of the early biotech startups backed by Y Combinator in 2014. The project, which aimed to use synthetic biology to develop a plant that would light itself in the dark, garnered significant attention in 2013 when it raised about $480,000 on Kickstarter. The original idea was to bring plants that are not only ornamental, but also have the ability to repel insects and purify the air to the average home.
However, it was technically extremely difficult to create a genetically engineered plant that would emit a clear light. The development team repeatedly experimented with incorporating fluorescent genes, but the light was not bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, and the project did not lead to commercial success. The project was therefore abandoned and the team eventually focused its efforts on the development of a moss that emitted a fragrance. However, this new challenge was stalled by quality control problems, and the project quietly came to an end.
However, the vision of the "Glowing Plant" was not completely destroyed. Its successor, the startup "Light Bio," has developed a technology that uses fluorescent genes derived from mushrooms to give plants such as petunias the ability to emit light continuously. Finally, the company began selling the technology to households in the United States in 2024. The time is coming when light-emitting plants will become a reality in people's lives.
The "Glowing Plant" project has challenged the limits of technology, ethics, and regulation, and has strongly impressed people with the possibilities of the new field of synthetic biology. Memories of failures eventually bore fruit as successors took over, and the dreams of the past quietly blossomed over time. The trajectory of these efforts continues into the future, like the stalk of a plant growing in search of light.
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