Identification of Green Fluorescent Protein in Semarang’s Local Jellyfish as Alternative
DNA markers
Cahya Kurnia Fusianto1, Zulfikar Achmad Tanjung1, and Endang Semiarti1. 1Faculty of Biologi Gadjah Mada University
ABSTRACT
Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) is a non-destructive reporter gene that can report gene expression directly, so that it widely used in cell and molecular biology research (Hajra, 2008). The GFP protein emits green fluorescent light when it excited with ultraviolet light. GFP gene as a DNA marker packaged in a plasmid, namely GFP plasmid. that is usually very expensive. It has been reported that GFP is obtained only in some genera of jellyfish, i.e Aequorea, Mitrocoma,
Obelia, and Phialidium (Chalfie and Kain, 2006). Research on GFP from the local jellyfish of Indonesia has not been reported, although Indonesia has many different types of jellyfish. This research was conducted to determine whether local jellyfish Indonesia has the GFP gene that can be used as an alternative DNA marker or not. This experiment was started with sampling the jellyfish on the Marina Beach in Semarang. Genomic DNA was isolated and then amplified with four sets of GFP-specific primers designed from specific parts of Aequorea victoria’s GFP gene as the sequence reference.
Morphological observations showed that the local jellyfish from Semarang is Rhizostoma sp. The amplified genomic DNA from the local jellyfish using GFP primers show differences in sequence between local jellyfish and Aequorea victoria as the positive control (plasmid pCambia) in three positions, namely section front end, back end and the middle genes. These data indicate differences in the nucleotide sequence so that it can be concluded Rhizostoma sp. that local jellyfish from Semarang has a specific GFP gene, that is different with the GFP gene from Aequorea victoria. This finding shows the potential a new GFP of Indonesia as a native GFP gene.
Key words: GFP, DNA markers, local jellyfish, Semarang, Indonesia