Biotechnology
In 1961,Osamu Shimomura extracted green fluorescent protein (GFP) and another bioluminescent protein, called aequorin, from the large and abundant hydromedusa Aequorea Victoria , while studying photoproteins that cause bioluminescent in this species. Three decades later , Douglas Prasher sequenced and cloned the gene for GFP. Martin Chalfie figured out how to use GFP as a fluorescent marker of genes inserted into other cells or organisms . Roger Tsien later chemically manipulated GFP to produce other fluorescent colors to use as markets. In 2008 , Shimomura , Chalfie and Tsien won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work with GFP.
Man-made GFP became commonly used as a fluorescent tag to show which cells or tissues express specific genes. The genetic engineering technique fuses the gene of interest to the GFP gene. The fused DNA is then put into a cell , to generate either a cell line or (via IVF techniques) an entire animal bearing the gene. In the cell or animal , the artificial gene turns on in the same tissues and the same time as the normal gene , making GFP instead of the normal protein .Illuminating the animal or cell reveals what tissues express that protein – or at what stage of development. The fluorescence shows where the gene is expressed.