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How I made the World’s First Bioluminescence Illuminated Christmas Tree

Edward A. Quinto

The World’s First Bioluminescence Illuminated Christmas Tree

If the year 1992 was for her Excellency Queen Elizabeth II an “

Annus Horribilis

” or horrible year, the following year 1993 was for me my “

Annus Mirabilis

” or wonderfulyear. In that year, I discovered up close and personal one of nature’s most awe-inspiring living wonders. As I entered a dark laboratory in Germany, I vividly saw for thefirst time nutrient broths contained in Erlenmeyer flasks shining brightly with a blue-green hue of captivating spectacle. Swimming in the broths were the teeming trillions of shining cells of the marine luminous bacterium:

Aliivibrio fischeri

. The combinedradiance of the astronomical number of cells each shining like tiny light bulbs generatesthe homogeneously luminous blue liquid or plate colonies we humans see as thebiological phenomenon of bioluminescence. While electrical light bulbs generate heat

over time, bioluminescence does not, thereby aptly earning for it the title of “cold light”.Since,

Aliivibrio fischeri

and many other luminous microbes are the bearers of light inthe world of the smallest; I fondly called them the “Microbes of Light”.Bioluminescence can reveal itself in rare occasions and on a grand scale as themysterious light illuminating a vast region of the powerful nighttime sea. This eerieshining sea, not to be confused with St. Elmo’s Fire, was mentioned by Jules Verne inhis book “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. Sailors through the ages chronicled thismystifying light of the sea in their logbooks now known in science as the phenomenonof the “Milky Sea”. If one were cruising in the midst of a “Milky Sea”, the sea will appear shiny white like fresh milk stretching out far into the horizons. That is how thisuncommon marine occurrence got its name. The satellite of the U.S. Naval ResearchLaboratory captured the image of a large “Milky Sea”, the size of Palawan Island, for thefirst time on 25, 26, and 27 January 1995. Seamen in a merchant ship at that timelocated off the coast of the horn of Africa also witnessed this unusually bright “MilkySea”. For a bioluminescent phenomenon close to my heart to fall on a 26 January, mynatal day, is indeed an honor!Bioluminescence is the “Light of Life” resulting from chemical reactions taking placeinside the cells of living organisms. It renders the lantern fishes and the firefly squidsluminous in the darkness of the depths. Furthermore, in the perpetually dark abyss,which covers a large part of the oceans’ basin, bioluminescence holds a significant rolein the interactions of living organisms. Bioluminescent organisms have played outbeautiful pyrotechnic flashes to deep-sea research submersibles. The “Light of Life”abounds in nature but is far more common in the hydrosphere than on the lithosphere.On land, bioluminescence unfurls its beauty by the twinkling of Fireflies, glimmering of mushrooms and the glowing of some worms. However, in the dark void of thecontinental ocean basin it is the only means of communication for marine denizensgrand and small. Fishes flash, squids shine, Jellyfishes flicker, and a host of invertebrates shimmer in this dark largely unexplored world. Indeed, as an amateur astronomer I realized that the “The Microbes of Light” are like heavenly bodies calledstars for they produce their own radiant energy in the darkness of their own deep-seauniverse. These marine organisms like fishes and squids can produce their own lightsby utilizing special “Light Organs” harboring dense loads of symbiotic luminousmicrobes. The Flashlight fish carries light organs under its eyes shining like headlightsin the dark. My favorite luminous animal, the “Hawaiian Bobtail Squid” used light organslocated in its belly to shine thereby canceling its shadow during full moons and sodisappear from the lurking eyes of hungry predators swimming beneath it. Theseluminous microbes were the very same microbes that I saw in the shining broths inGermany in 1993. I was also fortunate to have isolated these luminous organisms fromlocal sources here in the Philippines. Having successfully cultivated these luminous

microbes, I stored and preserved them in the microbiology laboratory in UST. Thesemicrobes are identified by their scientific names:

Aliivibrio fischeri, Aliivibrio harveyi,Photobacterium phosphoreum, Photobacterium leiognathi

and many others.

When theyare isolated and cultivated in special microbiological broths and agar media, they can bemade to shine with a strong and enduring luminosity of alluring wonder. Scientists haveestimated that each cell acting like miniature light bulbs generate 10,000 to 100,000photons per second. A photon is the particle of light carrying discrete packets of energy.In the dark, our own scotopic vision (Dark Vision) is so sensitive to the bluish-greencolor of bioluminescence. Photoreceptor cells called rods in human eye can visualize aslittle as one photon! One culture agar plate of these marine luminous microbes canproduce enough light to enable one to read books in the dark!When stained and observed through a microscope, the one-celled luminous microbe

Aliivibrio fischeri

appears as a plump rod occurring singly or in pairs. This “heavenlymicrobe” can also be found non-luminously in the intestinal contents and on the bodilysurfaces of squids, fishes, crustaceans, and seaweeds. The bioluminescent animalsuse light to attract their mates and prey, as well as to distract and evade their predators.When the luminous microbes are isolated and grown in special nutrient broths, thepopulation increases until a critical size is reached when every cell of about five billionsper drop of broth shine all at the same time. What an awesome sight it must be tobehold this phenomenon at the cellular level! This ability of microbes to communicate toone another to determine how big their population size is, comparable to conductingtheir own roll call, is termed “Quorum Sensing”. Imagine the action of five billion cellsswitching on their lights simultaneously! So stand aside, the lighting up of the light bulbsof the New York Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Evolution chose the emitted light of bioluminescence to be blue because this color is more energetic than green, yellow,and red thereby enabling it to travel farthest in the sea. To travel far in the sea, makesblue an efficient means of signaling among living organisms in a world whereastronomical open spaces is the norm. Red and yellow “living lights” also occur innature though minimally. It is also the reason why the marine world appears with a coolbluish tinge under white light or sunlight.