| A Green Light for New Research Mike May Abstract
Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is what gives jellyfish and other sea creatures their bioluminescent glow. Luckily for molecular biologists, GFP glows outside a jellyfish, too–in fact, researchers are injecting GFP into organisms such as bacteria, then shining blue or ultraviolet light on the organisms and using the resultant green glow to track molecular and cellular changes.  Fluorescent folds . 238 amino acids make up the green fluorescent protein.
Photo credit: Tod D. Romo | GFP seems to require no cofactor ; nothing but GFP needs to be added to an organism in order for the protein to glow under proper lighting. Plus, GFP can be used in living organisms, which gives the advantage of being able to monitor a variety of cellular processes. For example, a scientist can actually watch as the cell divides, moves along a surface, becomes infected, or goes through some other change. GFP appears to coexist easily with a variety of cellular neighbors. Moreover, many organelles have been marked with GFP and the technology seems to be working in virtually every system to which it's been applied. Although the method for using this marker depends on its intended task, the main challenge is to get the GFP in the right place within the organism. GFP promises many applications in environmental health. Some potential uses include tracking the survival of particular microorganisms in soil samples and monitoring the expression of genes induced by environmental stressors, such as heavy metals or organic pollutants. Such approaches could further be used to develop pollution indices that may be less costly and more sensitive than conventional indicator measurements. Currently, investigators are developing GFP-based diagnostic tests for drugs, food additives, herbicides, pesticides, carcinogens, and other chemicals.
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