Editing Biophoton (section)

===Plants===
Imaging of biophotons from leaves has been used as a method for assaying R gene responses.<ref name="Biophoton imaging: a nondestructive"/> These genes and their associated proteins are responsible for [[pathogen]] recognition and activation of defense signaling networks leading to the hypersensitive response,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Iniguez AL, Dong Y, Carter HD, Ahmer BM, Stone JM, Triplett EW | title = Regulation of enteric endophytic bacterial colonization by plant defenses | journal = Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions | volume = 18 | issue = 2 | pages = 169–78 | date = February 2005 | pmid = 15720086 | doi = 10.1094/MPMI-18-0169 | doi-access = free }}</ref> which is one of the mechanisms of the resistance of plants to pathogen infection. It involves the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have crucial roles in [[signal transduction]] or as toxic agents leading to cell death.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kobayashi M, Sasaki K, Enomoto M, Ehara Y | title = Highly sensitive determination of transient generation of biophotons during hypersensitive response to cucumber mosaic virus in cowpea | journal = Journal of Experimental Botany | volume = 58 | issue = 3 | pages = 465–72 | year = 2006 | pmid = 17158510 | doi = 10.1093/jxb/erl215 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Biophotons have been also observed in the roots of stressed plants. In healthy cells, the concentration of ROS is minimized by a system of biological antioxidants. However, heat shock and other stresses changes the equilibrium between oxidative stress and antioxidant activity, for example, the rapid rise in temperature induces biophoton emission by ROS.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kobayashi K, Okabe H, Kawano S, Hidaka Y, Hara K | title = Biophoton emission induced by heat shock | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 9 | issue = 8 | pages = e105700 | year = 2014 | pmid = 25153902 | pmc = 4143285 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0105700 | bibcode = 2014PLoSO...9j5700K | doi-access = free }}</ref>