Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology [Hardcover]

Marc Zimmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2005

Marc Zimmer has written the first popular science book on an amazing new area of biotechnology that will help fight cancer, create new products, improve agriculture, and combat terrorism. For more than one hundred and sixty million years, green fluorescent protein has existed in one species of jellyfish. In 1994, it was cloned, giving rise to a host of useful and potentially revolutionary applications in biotechnology. Today, researchers are using this ancient glowing protein to pursue exciting new discoveries, from tracking the process of bacterial infection to detecting chemical and biological agents planted by terrorists.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Green fluorescent pigment (GFP), made naturally by jellyfish, has recently sparked a biological revolution. "GFP is a fantastically useful protein" because it can monitor and track other proteins "inside a living organism, without disrupting any molecular processes." As Connecticut College chemist Zimmer shows, scientists have cloned the gene for GFP and attached it to other genes in a wide array of organisms, from rabbits to monkeys and fish. When these other genes are turned on, GFP is produced and individual cells begin to glow. The diagnostic uses for this technique are critically important and varied. GFP may help with the early diagnosis of cancer, with tracking the spread of pathogenic bacteria and may provide a relatively quick and easy assay for anthrax, among other exciting uses. Additionally, GFP has already helped scientists better understand developmental processes in organisms, which may lead to cures for such diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. While Zimmer is moderately successful in presenting the excitement associated with these breakthroughs, his clumsy prose often gets in the way of his message. His transitions between topics are so obtuse that much of his text reads like a series of extended digressions. Zimmer is at his best when explaining basic biology and chemistry; as his subject gets more complex, his explanations become more difficult to follow.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

It is the topic of numerous technical papers, reports chemistry professor Zimmer, but it rarely surfaces in the mass media unless the biotechnologists whip up something astonishingly weird. It is green fluorescent protein (GFP), by which fireflies and jellyfish illuminate themselves, and for which the cloners have found numerous potential applications. One of GFP's infrequent references in the news concerned Alba the fluorescent rabbit, displayed as an exhibit of "transgenic art." Drawing attention to this arena of genetic engineering, Zimmer describes what can be done with GFP, whether benevolent (testing the efficacy of disinfectants, replacing radioactive tests as detectors of cancer), frivolous (creating fluorescent pets), or alarming (cloning people in unnatural colors). Acknowledging the dual-edged bioethical ramifications of GFP, Zimmer does not elaborate on them but remains informatively focused on lab research. He also profiles the principal scientists who isolated GFP, found its causative gene, and determined its molecular shape. A timely alert on a fast-changing biotechnology. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (February 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591022533
• ISBN-13: 978-1591022534
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #541,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun tour of discovery, April 12, 2005

By 

Achim Peter "a and b" (Berlin.de) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology (Hardcover)

It's a long time that I have been so fascinated by a popular science book as now happened, reading "Glowing Genes". Marc Zimmer neatly explains what one needs to know about genetics and chemistry. But that is not all. Since I read the book a few weeks ago,
· I have become more sensitive to and interested in the benefits of research done for the sake of discovering secrets of nature, as opposed to primarily profit motivated research.
· I believe to understand that not all cloning of animals is harmful, that the pros and cons have to be weighed in each case,
· And having read "Glowing Genes" and Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything", I often wonder how many inventors and first discoverers are forgotten or intentionally not recorded.
Reading "Glowing Genes" is a fun-tour of discovery. My mostly outdated High School Science seems to have been enough background to understand the well explained complex issues. I did have problems though with chapter 12. Perhaps I should read it once more.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow - Can they really do that?, April 5, 2005

By 

Angie "The Yale Snail" (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I was fascinated by the pictures on the cover and read it to see if scientists can really make pigs with glowing noses. They can and they can do so much more. This book was very interesting and was easy to read. I finished it in one go. The author acknowledges Bill Bryson as one of his influences and you can clearly see that in his writing style ...perhaps thats why I enjoyed it so much. Glowing Genes also has cool pictures of a glowing bunny and fluorescent fruit fly sperm. It presents the complete story of GFP and the firefly protein - from the early scientists who caught 1000's of jellyfish and fruit flies to the newest applications. Read it, you will enjoy it.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUCH better than your average pop science book., June 13, 2005

By 

Maynard Handley (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology (Hardcover)

I have to say that this was a very poorly edited book littered with bizarre mistakes: grammatical, spelling, and elementary history (the introduction talks about 17th century Victorian ladies!). The writing style veers from something targeted at teenagers to something more adult and back again, sometimes in one paragraph.

Having said that, this book really is worth reading, in spite of the style, because the science it describes is riveting. I was vaguely aware of fluorescence as something used by biologists, but the author really does a great job of covering the field; the history, the various ways in which fluorescence is used, the ways in which the essential chemistry of the subject has been modified over the past few years. I'm a sucker for pop science books but, sadly, most of them rehash material that any educated person should already know. It's rare to find one, like this, that not only is packed with material that I did not know but that also manages to weave it all into a coherent narrative.