Green Fluorescent Protein and Green Mice

The discovery and isolation of a relatively simple fluorescent protein in jellyfish that glows green when stimulated with the correct wavelength of light has led to the winning of the Nobel Prize in chemistry to one Japanese and two American scientists.

The green fluorescent protein consists of a chain of 238 amino acids bent into a beer can-like cylindrical shape, and for two and a half decades it remained a little-known biological curiosity.

Actually, the isolation of the gene that encodes the protein is what has led to a very powerful technique using the gene to label certain cells. The GFP gene can be inserted into almost any cell to make that cell and its progeny glow green. It can be inserted into almost any gene of any cell to make that cell and its progeny glow green if it expresses some other specific protein.



The gene has even been put into mice and rabbits to make green mice and rabbits.