A new technique using fluorescence to automatically measure and map cellular activity in living plant tissue will contribute to better computer models that are at the heart of synthetic biology, the attempts to engineer living systems.
The team at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, led by Dr Jim Haseloff, have been working to uncover the mysteries of biological systems in certain plants – characterised by the highly complex genetic and cellular networks which are locked in a vast network of interactions – resulting in self-repair and reproduction in the organism.
These evolved biological systems are capable of creating structures of a hugely complex nature, far more sophisticated than the most advanced man-made materials – which the plants do in a renewable and, if it could be harnessed, a potentially very cheap way.
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Image: Root of Arabidopsis thaliana with green fluorescent protein decorating cell membrane and red fluorescent protein marking nuclei. Credit: Fernan Federici from the Haseloff lab
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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