Team:BCCS-Bristol/Wetlab/Part Design/Components/Reporters

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==Reporters==
==Reporters==
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'''Fluorescent Proteins'''
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Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a spontaneously fluorescent protein. It was first isolated in the
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1970’s from jellyfish, its biological function is to transduce blue chemiluminescence from another
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protein into green light. Since the gene for GFP was isolated and shown to be an effective transgene
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it has become an important reporter molecule used in almost all fields of biology [15]. It can be
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expressed in high enough quantities that its fluorescence is easily visible to the naked eye. GFPs
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excitation peak is at 395nm with a minor peak at 475nm, its emission peak is at 508nm. Fig. 2
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shows some E. coli constitutively expressing GFP on a sample of soil.
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Since the discovery of GFP many other fluorescent proteins have been discovered and charac-
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terised. For our red fluorescent protein (RFP) we chose one from the coral Discosoma striata, its
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excitation peak is at 584nm and its emission peak is at 607nm, sufficiently far away from GFP that
 +
the two signals are easily distinguishable by any reasonably accurate spectroscopic equipment, or
 +
indeed the CCD of a digital camera.

Revision as of 13:52, 13 October 2010

Reporters

Fluorescent Proteins

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a spontaneously fluorescent protein. It was first isolated in the 1970’s from jellyfish, its biological function is to transduce blue chemiluminescence from another protein into green light. Since the gene for GFP was isolated and shown to be an effective transgene it has become an important reporter molecule used in almost all fields of biology [15]. It can be expressed in high enough quantities that its fluorescence is easily visible to the naked eye. GFPs excitation peak is at 395nm with a minor peak at 475nm, its emission peak is at 508nm. Fig. 2 shows some E. coli constitutively expressing GFP on a sample of soil.

Since the discovery of GFP many other fluorescent proteins have been discovered and charac- terised. For our red fluorescent protein (RFP) we chose one from the coral Discosoma striata, its excitation peak is at 584nm and its emission peak is at 607nm, sufficiently far away from GFP that the two signals are easily distinguishable by any reasonably accurate spectroscopic equipment, or indeed the CCD of a digital camera.