Green Fluorescent proteinSamantha Stickdorn

• Discovered by Osamu Shimoura in 1962• First discovered in Aequorea Victoria a hydrozoan jellyfish species• he extracted the protein from a faintly luminescent liquid called

squeezate• Obtained when the rings of twenty to thirty jellyfish are squeezed

through a rayon gauze,

•Discovery

• Osamu Shimoura Martin Chalife Roger Tsien

• Osamu Shimoura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien Won noble prize in 2008 for their work with GFP• Osamu Shimoura is credited with discovering the protein • Martin Chalfie demonstrated the value of GFP as a luminous genetic tag for various biological phenomena.• Roger Y. Tsien created mutations of the protein to create a wide variety of colors which enabled scientists to

follow several different biological processes at the same time.

•Nobel Prize

• .Eleven beta-strands make up the beta-barrel and an alpha-helix runs through the center

• Cylindrical beta barrel structure helps protect chromophore

• Exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to light in blue to ultraviolent range

•Structure and function

• Jelly fish relsease calcium ions that bind to protein called aequorin

• Produces blue light• GFP absorbs blue light and gives off green light

• Process occurs in photoorgans located on the umbrella

•How it works

• GFP gene is inserted after the desired protein gene and before stop codon

• ultra violet light causes the GFP attached to the protein to fluoresce allowing the protein to be traced as it moves through the cell

Uses: tracer molecule

• Can be used to determine function of a protein• When Placed under the control of a specific promoter GFP will be expressed in

place of protein  showing where and when the gene of interest is switched on.

Uses: Reporter gene

• Gene expression and function • Unknown Proteins can be tagged to see where they are

expressed in the body • Animals remain alive so proteins can be seen in action • See when genes are turned on and off

• Allows researchers to easily see structures• Researchers labeled neurons in brains of mice• Watch mice think by observing reactions in the brain to whisker

stimulus

•Applications

• Used to study diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's

• Cancer cells labeled with GFP inserted into mice so they can watch how it grows and spreads

• nerve cell damage during Alzheimer's disease can be observed

• Biosensors • contaminants in the environment • pH and ion concentration fluctuations• Map intracellular temperature

•Applications continued

• GFP isn’t toxic to cells like some traditional dyes• Can be used to monitor cellular processes in living cells and organism

• It’s small size makes it less likely to hinder function of attached protein

• Doesn't require additional substances to produce fluorescence

•avantages

• Mutation to enhance brightness• Several different mutations have been created leading to a wide variety of colors

•Mutations

organisms

• . "Fluorescent protein technology." Zeiss microscopy online. Carl Zeiss Microscopy, 2012. Web. 30 Nov 2012. <http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/articles/probes/fpintroduction.html

• marc, Zimmer. "Green Fluorescent Protein." . Connecticut college, 3 2012. Web. 30 Nov 2012. <http://www.conncoll.edu/ccacad/zimmer/GFP-ww/GFP-1.htm >.

• Shimomura, O., Johnson, F. H. and Saiga, Y. (1962), Extraction, Purification and Properties of Aequorin, a Bioluminescent Protein from the Luminous Hydromedusan, Aequorea. J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 59: 223–239. doi: 10.1002/jcp.1030590302

• Chalfie, M. (1995), GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 62: 651–656. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1995.tb08712.x

•References