The team will work with luciferase, an enzyme common in fireflies as well as some glowing fungi and bacteria.

BBC: Glowing tobacco plant

Previous efforts to create light-emitting plants in the lab have made use of a luciferase gene derived from fireflies.

BBC: The light fantastic: Harnessing Nature's glow

Genetic engineers have, however, tinkered with the phage, and have arranged for it to produce a fluorescent protein called luciferase when it infects a bacterium.

ECONOMIST: A poor diagnosis