Also: GFP, Aequorea victoria protein, fluorescent protein tag
GFP is a protein from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria that glows green under blue light. Its discovery and development as a genetic marker earned the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Shimomura, Chalfie, Tsien). It lets scientists see where genes are switched on in living cells.
Readiness: lab lab studies · prototype demonstrated objects · commercial products or buildings in real use · review summaries of other studies.
Shimomura and colleagues purified aequorin, a light-emitting protein from Aequorea jellyfish; GFP was noted as a companion green protein in this work.
As reported in: Shimomura, Johnson, Saiga (1962). Extraction, Purification and Properties of Aequorin, a Bioluminescent Protein from the Luminous Hydromedusan, <i>Aequorea</i>. Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology. doi:10.1002/jcp.1030590302
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Prasher and colleagues cloned and reported the primary structure (gene sequence) of Aequorea green fluorescent protein.
Built / tested: cloned GFP gene
As reported in: Prasher, Eckenrode, Ward et al. (1992). Primary structure of the Aequorea victoria green-fluorescent protein. Gene. doi:10.1016/0378-1119(92)90691-H
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Chalfie and colleagues showed GFP glows in bacteria and roundworms without any added jellyfish chemicals, making it a living marker for gene expression.
Built / tested: fluorescent reporter organisms
As reported in: Chalfie, Tu, Euskirchen et al. (1994). Green Fluorescent Protein as a Marker for Gene Expression. Science. doi:10.1126/science.8303295
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Tsien reviewed how GFP forms its glowing center and how engineered colour variants became tools across biology.
As reported in: Tsien (1998). THE GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN. Annual Review of Biochemistry. doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.67.1.509
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