The utility of green fluorescent protein in transgenic plants

Abstract

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria has proven to be a powerful tool in plant genetic transformation studies. This paper reviews the history and the progression of the expression of GFP variants in transgenic plants. The distinguishing features of the most useful GFPs, such as those including the S65T chromophore mutation and those with dual excitation peaks, are discussed. The review also focuses on the utility of GFP as a visual selectable marker in aiding the plant transformation process; GFP has been more important in monocot transformation compared with dicot transformation. Finally, the potential utility of new fluorescent proteins is speculated upon.

Green fluorescent protein as a visual selection marker for coffee transformation

“…Use of a synthetic GFP gene (sgfp) to complement chemical selection has been applied to a range of plant species (Stewart 2001). More recently, the GFP gene (gfp) has been used as a complete substitute for non-visual selection markers in sugarcane , barley (Ahlandsberg et al 1999), oats (Kaeppler et al 2000), rice (Vain et al 2000), sugar beet (Zhang et al 2001) and papaya (Zhu et al 2004).…”

Recent Advances in Fruit Species Transformation

“…This is one of the mostly used reporter marker gene in fruit transformation protocols for monitoring transformed cells in vivo and in real time just by application of UV-light for the excitation of the fluorescent protein. GFP has not any cytotoxic effect on transformed plant cells (Stewart, 2001;Manimaran et al, 2011). In vivo detection may permit the manual selection of transformed tissues with focusing in the areas where the signal is more brightly.…”

The "all-in-one" rol-type binary vectors as a tool for functional genomic studies using hairy roots

“…The expression cassette of the engineered sGFP(S65T) was included in pHR-OX(gfp) and pHR-RNAi(gfp) because the utility of sGFP(S65T) as a visual and noninvasive selectable marker has been demonstrated in a number of plant species (Niwa et al 1999;Stewart 2001).…”