Davis I, Girdham C H, O'Farrell P H
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco 94143-0448, USA.
Dev Biol. 1995 Aug;170(2):726-9. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1995.1251.
The central role of gene expression in regulating development has largely been studied by in situ hybridization and antibody staining techniques in fixed material. However, rapid temporal and spatial changes in gene expression are often difficult to correlate with complex morphogenetic movements. A green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, can be used as a real-time reporter for gene expression and could aid analysis of dynamic events during embryogenesis. Here, we describe a transgenic Drosophila line ubiquitously expressing a nuclear GFP fusion protein that highlights morphogenesis, cell movement, and mitosis in living embryos. The fusion protein is highly fluorescent when maternally supplied, but there is a long delay between its zygotic expression and the appearance of fluorescence. GFP is thus an excellent marker for the expression of stable gene products, but a poor reporter for dynamic zygotic gene expression in early Drosophila embryos.
基因表达在调控发育过程中的核心作用，很大程度上是通过对固定材料进行原位杂交和抗体染色技术来研究的。然而，基因表达的快速时空变化往往难以与复杂的形态发生运动相关联。来自维多利亚多管水母的绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）可作为基因表达的实时报告基因，有助于分析胚胎发育过程中的动态事件。在此，我们描述了一种转基因果蝇品系，其普遍表达一种核GFP融合蛋白，该蛋白可突出显示活胚胎中的形态发生、细胞运动和有丝分裂。当由母体提供时，融合蛋白具有高度荧光性，但在其合子表达与荧光出现之间存在很长的延迟。因此，GFP是稳定基因产物表达的优秀标记，但在果蝇早期胚胎中作为动态合子基因表达的报告基因效果不佳。
