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GFP
Green Fluorescent Protein
http://www.ekac.org/albagreen.jpeg
Why is this rabbit glowing?
"Alba", the green fluorescent bunny, is an albino rabbit. This means that, since she has no skin pigment, under ordinary environmental conditions she is completely white with pink eyes. Alba is not green all the time. She only glows when illuminated with the correct light. When (and only when) illuminated with blue light (maximum excitation at 488 nm), she glows with a bright green light (maximum emission at 509 nm). She was created with EGFP, an enhanced version (i.e., a synthetic mutation) of the original wild-type green fluorescent gene found in the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria. EGFP gives about two orders of magnitude greater fluorescence in mammalian cells (including human cells) than the original jellyfish gene [2].
The rest of the article (and some interesting history on rabbits) can be found Here .
I'm not completely through with the article; the history is neat but I don't think I like the idea of a glowing rabbit very much...
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The part that makes me feel good about Alba is not that she glows under the correct light, but that her owner loves her, is shown cuddling her, and is looking forward to taking her home where she can become a true member of the family.
Thankfully she is albino, so white it normal light, and no one (bunny) would mistake her for a giant piece of parsley!
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