Part one of term paper
Green Fluorescent Protein Purification Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) is a relatively new biochemical tool with a wide range of applications in current research. The natural function of GFP is to facilitate the bioluminescence of jellyfish and other coelenterates. Aequorea GFP (from jellyfish) consists of 238 amino acids packed tightly tog ...

Part two of term paper
... In emitting light, the GFP fluorophore undergoes a cycle in which it absorbs a photon, deprotonates to form a phenolate which then emits a photon (at 509 nm) and gets protonated again so the fluorophore returns to its original state. This cycle allows the fluorophore to reliably emit a high yield of light with no outside influence other than the incoming photon. So GFP is basically a stable little (27-30 kD) green light bulb that can be tacked on to other proteins at either the N- or C-terminus wi ...