Jelly Fish and Green Fluorescent Protein
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The crystal jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, produces and emits light, called bioluminescence. Its DNA codes for sequence of 238 amino acids that forms a protein called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). FP is folded so that a part of the protein, called the chromophore, is located in the center of the protein. The chemical structure of the chromophore emits a green fluorescence when exposed to light in the range of blue to ultraviolet.
Object is a digital image that represents green fluorescent protein at various levels of organization within an organism. On the left of the image is a blue circle, in which there is a jelly fish, with some of its parts aglow. From one such part, a zoom circle juts to the right, in which is represented a strand of DNA from the jelly fish. From that circle, a black arrow points to the right and to a new zoom circle, this one representing the primary amino acid sequence coded for by the DNA sequence and that eventually folds into the protein. Another black arrow points below it to a third zoom circle in which is represented the tertiary structure of the protein all folded up, with some internal segments glowing green. From those segments, a fourth zoom circle juts to the left and represents the chemical bonds and atomic structure that comprise the green segments.