Genetic engineering may be the single most important development in biology in the last 20 years. Bio Rad is a terrific Bay Area company that sells easy to use kits that can be used in the classroom. Bio Rad’s pGLO transformation kit (see below) essentially allows students to insert the Green Fluorescence Protein (GFP) from a jellyfish and insert it into E. coli bacteria. With this inserted gene the bacteria make GFP and thus the bacteria glow green under UV light. The name of the kit is the pGLO Bacterial Transformation Kit. For detailed explanation of the kit, see video below.
pGLO kit
contents of kit
video demonstration of kit
If the GFP was inserted into a different bacterium,(especially one that could sporulate) would the GFP have any effect, if so, would the protein be tranfered into the spores?
If the strain of bacterium were changed, say to a species that sporulates, would the GFP be present and active in the new generation?
The GFP gene would be passed along with the bla and the araC gene. Arabinose would have to be in the bacteria’s environment, and the bacteria would have to have the ability to metabolize it.