Chapter 29, Problem 2Q

Why do you expect colonies on the ampicillin agar to fluoresce?

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The reason for observation of the green fluorescent on ampicillin agar plate.

Introduction:

The gfp or the green flouroscent protein is a 238 amino acid long amino acid first isolated from Aequorea Victoria (avGFP). The GFP gives aa green fluorescent in visible light and blue fluorescent in UV. The GFP is very important for the microbial study as it allows tagging of protein and associated products and genes.

Explanation of Solution

In case, the ampicillin resistant genes is labelled as fluorescent, then on ampicillin rich agar, this gene will be expressed. The expression of the ampicillin resistance gene will cause the gfp protein to be expressed as a result green fluorescent will be observed.