By Cat Williams

Faculty Mentor: Dr. April Wynn

Abstract

Petunias do not naturally bioluminesce; however, the transgenic Firefly Petunia, created by Light Bio, contains genes from the bioluminescent mushroom, Neonothopanus nambi, inserted into its genome. In an effort to confirm the insertion and location of the inserted genes, primers were designed, each gene was amplified via polymerase chain reaction, and the amplicons were visualized through gel electrophoresis. The presence of the Hispidin-3-hydroxylase (H3H), Luciferase (Luz), Caffeoyl pyruvate hydrolase (CPH), and Hispidin synthase (Hispidin) genes was confirmed, and sequencing will indicate the location of the insertions within the genome.