Introduction
The goal of this lab is to be able to take the gene responsible for allowing organisms to glow in the dark, called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), located in the pGLO plasmid, and move it from the DNA of the Aequorea victoria to bacteria, Escherichia coli.
The pGLO plasmid is found naturally in some organisms such as the A. victoria, otherwise known as the crystal jellyfish. GFP appears to glow by taking in the ultraviolet rays from sunlight and then emitting those rays as a lower-energy green light. This protein has many different practical uses in scientific research because of …show more content…
GFP is the protein located in the pGLO plasmid. Figure 2: pGLO Plasmid
The GFP part is what codes for the glowing protein commonly found in many organisms. The bla section codes for the enzyme known as beta-lactamase which breaks down ampicillin making the plasmid anti-bacterial resistant. Ori stands for origin which is where DNA replication takes place. Finally, araC is the regulatory protein that turns on and off the production of the GFP protein in the presence of arabinose. We used a procedure known as genetic transformation while conducting this lab. Genetic transformation is used practically in agriculture and medicine to isolate and grow plants with a specific trait without the possibility of genetic variation of that trait. The steps of genetic transformation include; isolating and extracting the DNA, cloning the specific gene, altering the makeup of the DNA, and reinserting the gene back into the organism using one of the practical techniques such as gene gun. Genetic transformation was first discovered by Frederick Griffith. Griffith used two different strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae discovered earlier by Griffith; the smooth (S) strain and the rough (R) strain. The R strain, when grown in a petri dish, would form colonies that have well-defined edges but a rough appearance; the S strain formed colonies