GFP and Jelly fish hogs limelite with chemistry Nobel
Jelly fish , a free living Cnidarian got its credit for its contribution in this years chemistry Nobel prize .At a UCSD news conference Roger Tsien did not forget to thank this beautiful animal for the role it played in making life easier in biology.
“It has been (fluorescing) for millions of years, though for reasons we still don’t understand. None of this would have happened without the jellyfish.”
Roger Tsien, Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie were awarded the 2008 Nobel in chemistry for their roles in discovering and developing fluorescent proteins into powerful tools.The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is composed of 238 amino acids (26.9 kDa), originally isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria that fluoresces green when exposed to blue light.In cell and molecular biology, the GFP gene is frequently used as a reporter of expression to help probing the behavior and interactions of molecules within cells and cells within animals.
The three scientists’ work “now allows researchers around the world to interrogate cells in their own environment, without harm,” — Arthur Ellis, University of California
By tagging fluorescent proteins to molecules and structures inside cells,gives scientists the opportunity to watch in real time as molecules interact, revealing functions and behaviors ,which played and will play a pivotal role in finding to new drugs, medical therapies and a deeper understanding of life itself.
Osamu Shimomura’s stay in the Department of Biology at Princeton to study the Jellyfish Aequorea victoria led to the discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP).But things remained stand still till 1992 when Douglas Prasher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution cloned the jellyfish gene encoding GFP. One should thank Prasher for making GFP as laboratory tool and enabling us to see inside of living without damaging it.
Chalfie and Tsien made wonders with copies of GFP clone from Douglas.Chalfie inserted the GFP into two subjects in E.coli and C;elegans and thus a new luminous genetic tag was born.Roger Tsien changed the world of fluorescent proteins by making them glow in various colours like yellow, blue, cyan and orange ,enabling researchers to work with more fluorescent proteins to track more than one cellular function at a time.
There’s no doubt that GFP has changed the way we do biology,and I am happy that the efforts of three scientists are rewarded because sometimes the most basic work is taken for granted for its immense popularity.
See a related news article on sciencenews
Image credit :
Glowing nematode
Reggy T / Flickr
Glowing Fly
Vuthui / FLICKR
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