The Green Journey

The 2008 Nobel prize in Chemistry is awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien for the discovery and development of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). The discovery began with Osamu Shimomura in 1962 with the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, whose outer edge glows green when the jellyfish is agitated. Roger Tsien and co-workers finally showed that the α helix contains the fluorophore of GFP responsible for its green fluorescence at the center of the cylindrical structure and is formed spontaneously upon folding of the polypeptide chain by internal cyclization and oxidation of the residues Ser65-Tyr66-Gly67. Roger Tsien's work further broadened this area of research when he developed GFP derivatives with improved spectral characteristics and photostability.