DNA profiling

With the pGLO transformation kit, students use a simple procedure to transform bacteria with a gene from the bioluminescent jellyfish, Aequorea victoria. Bio-Rad's pGLO plasmid is constructed with a gene from this jellyfish that encodes Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), a unique protein that glows brilliantly under long-wave ultraviolet light. A bacterium transformed with pGLO divides and replicates itself into a colony of identical cells, all containing the pGLO plasmid and producing the jellyfish protein. As they multiply overnight on an agar plate, the colonies begin to glow a vivid green. Jellyfish GFP makes the molecular framework of biology stunningly visible!
Transformation is commonly used in biotechnology research and industry to study and manufacture proteins. pGLO transformation highlights some of the important recombinant DNA and protein expression steps used to create novel and marketable products. Whether that product is a life saving pharmaceutical, an enzyme that increases the vitamin content of rice, or a human vaccine expressed in a plant, transformation is a technique integral to the development of these products. Gene expression in all organisms is carefully regulated to allow adaptation to differing conditions and to prevent wasteful overproduction of unneeded proteins. The genes involved in the transport and catabolism of food are good examples of highly regulated genes. The promoter that regulates the expression of bacterial genes needed to break down, or digest, the simple sugar arabinose is activated in the presence of arabinose but not in its absence. Our genetically engineered pGLO plasmid contains the arabinose promoter, but the genes involved in the breakdown of arabinose have been replaced with the jellyfish gene for GFP. When bacteria transformed with pGLO are grown in the presence of arabinose, the GFP gene is turned on and the bacteria fluoresce a brilliant green color.