Final answer:
Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) is used as a biological tool to study protein localization in live cells by fusing it with other proteins, allowing visualization under a fluorescence microscope.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) from jellyfish is a valuable tool in molecular and cellular biology. This protein can be fused with the gene of another protein to create a hybrid gene that, when expressed in an organism, allows researchers to track where the protein localizes within the cell.
This fusion is achieved by inserting the GFP gene into the DNA sequence of the target gene in such a way that the resulting mRNA will translate into a fusion protein that includes both the GFP and the target protein. This does not affect the target protein's function but enables the visualization of the protein's distribution and movement within living cells under fluorescence microscopes.
One example of GFP's application includes tagging proteins within Escherichia coli O157:H7, which assists in identifying pathogenic bacteria. Another example is seen in transgenic mice that express GFP, showing patterns of gene expression in different tissues when exposed to ultraviolet light. This methodology is critical for studies in genomics and cell biology, allowing scientists to observe interactions and the functions of proteins in real-time within living organisms.
Fluorescent tags like GFP offer clear advantages over traditional staining methods, providing non-invasive, real-time tracking, and quantification of molecular processes, which is pivotal in research areas like proteomics for identifying cell and tissue-specific expression patterns and for validating the presence of biomarkers.