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  • Essay / Genetic transformation of E. coli into green fluorescent protein...

    Genetic transformation of E. coli to green fluorescent proteinIntroductionGenetic transformation is the process that a cell undergoes to absorb a piece of foreign DNA from a different organism (Aldridge 2012). The process was first started by a group of men named Herbert Boyer, Paul Berg, and Stanley Cohen in the 1970s (Aldridge 2012). Through their work, vaccines, medications, and insulin became available (Aldridge 2012). This lab involves E. coli and a green fluorescent protein (GFP) that will glow green if the transformation works. GFP is thought to act as a marker that glows green when detected and indicates where the protein is being made (Fletcher 2003). There are three different types of genetic transformations, but we only used heat shock in this experiment. This laboratory used heat shock treatment, which caused a sudden increase in temperature, thereby increasing the permeability of the cell membrane (Weedman 2013). Once E. coli undergoes heat shock, the bacteria transforms into arabinose and should glow green. When pGLO acts as a vector, it transfers a gene from one organism to another (Weedman 2013), causing the E. coli bacteria to glow in this experiment. The hypothesis was the binding of arabinose sugar to pGLO from heat shock treatment, which would cause genetic transformation and E. coli would turn green. The presence of ampicillin acts as resistance in the pGLO vector. This will be used to prove whether the hypothesis was correct or not because it blocks transformed cells. If the bacteria glows, then the transformation using heat was successful and the E.coli will make a new protein. Genetic transformation is very important and can be found in everyday transformations such as drugs...... middle of article ......lts. Fortunately, we followed all the steps correctly and carefully and got the good results. Literature Cited1. Fletcher L. Marker. 2003 Systems. Genetic. Ed. Richard Robinson. Flight. 3. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Virtual Reference Library. P15-182. Aldridge S. 2012 “Genetic Engineering.” Biotechnology Vol. 1 Detroit: gale. Virtual Reference Library 431-433. P431-4333. Weedman D. 2013. Life 102 Attributes of Living Systems Lab Manual. 7th edition. Minneapolis: Bluedoor, LLC.4. Buzzle.com: Benefits of Genetic Engineering [Internet]. [cited April 28, 2014] Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-genetic-engineering.html5. Biology-Online.org. Advantages and disadvantages of genetic engineering. [Internet]. 2006. [cited April 28, 2014]. http://www.biology-online.org/2/13_genetic_engineering.htm