Zeleni fluorescentni protein ; Green fluorescent protein

U ovom radu su predstavljene karakteristike i primjene zelenog fluorescentnog proteina. Zeleni fluorescentni protein (GFP, engl. green fluorescent protein) izoliran je iz meduze Aequorea victoria koja je rasprostranjena duž zapadne obale Sjeverne Amerike. GFP ima oblik cilindra, tzv. formu β-limenke. Ciklizacijskim reakcijama unutarnjih lanaca β ploče i aminokiselina stvara se kromofor koji daje boju proteinu. Različitim mutacijama stvarane su različite varijante odnosno derivati GFP-a pa imamo plavi fluorescentni protein, cijan fluorescentni protein i žuti fluorescentni protein. Primjena GFP-a je raznolika, pa se isti koristi u dijagnostici tumora, kao reporter transkripcijske regulacije, kao biosenzor, pri vizualizaciji proteina u stanici te u istraživanju primarnih staničnih funkcija. Zbog svoje široke primjene nedvojbeno je da će se daljnjim istraživanjima poboljšati karakteristike GFP-a i njegovih derivata i tako proširiti područje primjene. ; In this thesis, characteristics and applications of green fluorescent protein are presented. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria that is widespread along the west coast of North America. GFP has cylinder shape also referred to as β-can structure. Cyclization reactions between inward-facing sidechains and amino acids creates chromophore that gives protein it's colour. Different mutations made different derivatives of GFP so we have blue fluorescent protein, cyan fluorescent protein and yellow fluorescent protein. Applications of GFP are diverse, in tumour diagnostics, as transcriptional regulation reporter, biosensor, when visualizing proteins in the cell, in research of primary cell functions, among others. It is undoubtable that further research will improve characteristics of GFP and its derivatives and thus extend the scope of their application.