PGLO

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The correct title of this article is pGLO. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

pGLO is an engineered plasmid used in biotechnology as a vector for creating transgenic organisms. The plasmid contains several reporter genes, most notably for the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the beta-lactamase antibiotic resistance gene. GFP was isolated from Aequorea victoria. GFP was originally found in a jellyfish. Because it shares a bidirectional promoter with a gene for metabolizing arabinose, the GFP gene is expressed in the presence of arabinose, which makes the transgenic organism fluoresce under UV light. GFP can be induced in bacteria containing the pGLO plasmid by growing them on +arabinose plates. Adding arabinose to a liquid culture is less successful.

The pGLO plasmid was made famous by researches in France who used it to produce a green fluorescent rabbit.

Other features on pGLO, like most other plasmids, include: a selectable marker, Ori (origin of replication), and a MCS (multiple cloning site) located at the end of the GFP gene. The plasmid is about 5400 base pairs long. In supercoiled form, it runs on an agarose gel in the 4200-4500 range.