An Enlightening Protein

A fruit fly expressing GFP. Credit: Jay Hirsh, University of Virginia. During the holiday season, twinkling lights are a common sight. But no matter what time of the year, you can see colorful glows in many biology labs. Scientists have enabled many organisms to light up in the dark—from cells to fruit flies and Mexican salamanders. These glowing organisms help researchers better understand basic cell processes because their DNA has been edited to express molecules such as green fluorescent protein. Illuminating Cell Processes A zebrafish fin with GFP glowing (green dots) where gene sox9b is expressed. This gene plays an important role in the development of the heart, brain, and skeleton. Credit: Jessica Plavicki, University of Wisconsin, Madison. GFP is a natural protein that scientists discovered in the North American jellyfish Aequorea victoria. The protein glows green when exposed to ultraviolet light, which is a part of sunlight that’s invisible to humans. Scientists don’t know why these jellyfish evolved their glow, but one hypothesis is that it helps them ward off predators. Researchers have transferred the gene that carries the instructions for GFP into zebrafish, fruit flies, rabbits, mice, human cells in a lab dish, and more. GFP acts as a glowing “tag” on a protein being studied, letting researchers track the protein’s activity, which would be very difficult otherwise. Because proteins are produced only when genes are turned on by a sti...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Genes Tools and Techniques Cool Tools/Techniques DNA Proteins Source Type: blogs