Customer Reviews

Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology

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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 My mostly outdated High School Science seems to have been enough background to understand the well explained complex issues.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.

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.

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.

I've had an interest in the sciences since I can remember, and am currently majoring in both Biology and Chemistry. While this book may not be for everyone, I think it provides an extremely intriguing presentation to the revolution of fluorescent proteins. I have had intentions to conduct research in this field, and reading this book just heightened my desires to do so substantially. I feel that amazing things will be discovered in the next decade and Glowing Genes provides an insight that everyone could benefit from understanding.

GFP is a must-know in this century if you are a biologist and Marc Zimmer's is a must-read book on the subject.

I was shocked when I saw the pictures inside the book showing mice and pigs with glowing ears and nose, glowing tumors in mice's heads and an entirely green fluorescent rabbit. I put the book away thinking poor animals, their fellows will probably reject them, not to mention that it might hurt them or alter their normal functioning in some way. After some months I decided that remaining ignorant of what is being done in this research area would not help these animals in any way, so I decided to get informed in order to be able to form a better opinion on the matter. After reading the book I can still not make up my mind about the topic, but at least I am a bit more aware of the pros and cons. The book is an easy reading and requires no previous knowledge on the subject. It gives a broad overview of the matter without really going into the details of the experiments or the precise methods employed in the mentioned studies (which sometimes I would have liked).

The painstaking process that various scientists performed in order to obtain flouresent proteins from living organisms, artificially synthesize these proteins, and even to modify their related genes to obtain different colors and timings makes for a good narrative. Bioluminiscent organisms emit their "own" light: fireflies produce "luciferin + luciferase" that together emit light, while jellyfish (medusas) produce a green fluorescent protein (GFP) which in turn can produce a blue light in the presence of certain minerals. Fluorescent organisms, like corals, need to receive certain external radiation to fluoresce.

Fluorescent genes can be used as protein or gene markers (tags). For example, DNA fragments (genes) that code for GFP can be attached to the promoter region of other genes, so when the promoter tries to "activate" the gene under study, instead it codes for GFP which glows, so it can be seen when and where the promoters tried to activate the specific gene. When attached to the gene itself, the protein that this altered gene produces is the original protein but with fluorescence. It has been a "revolution" in biotechnology, since now genes and the proteins that they synthesize can be traced "life" with the aid of a very sensitive camera or even with the naked eye using a UV lamp; whereas previously, tissue needed to be extracted to be observed under a microscope. Proteins are so small that even with a microscope they cannot be observed. Several of these fluorescent proteins have been inserted in bateria and cancerous cells to better understand the spread of infections and cancer just by following the glow.

The author is not unaware of the risks and the opposition that biotechnology generates and tries to remain as neutral as possible, specially considering that this subject fascinates him and that he sees very huge potential in areas like agriculture and medicine. I am probably not in favor of using genetically modified genes in agriculture to visually see when plants need to be watered or to see that some mineral is missing or in excess, since I believe the risk of mutated genes infesting a whole area and thereby messing up with an ecosystem is too huge. Using fluorescent genes as markers in the lab just to study the cells, some genes and their related proteins will probably lead to one of the greatest advances in medicine. Just to highlight the importance of these discoveries, I would like to mention that the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry -after this book was published- was awarded jointly to the scientists that contributed to the discovery and development of GFP (Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Robert Y. Tsien), all of which are mentioned in this book.

Dr. Zimmer's book is enlighting and warm. His antecdotes are charming as is his web site where I found out about the book and ordered it. Thank you Marc.
Zack's Mom

I must admit I haven't read this book yet but I did have Marc Zimmer as a professor in college and he was a fascinating man with very interesting ideas. I am possitive that this book will be nothing less than great! If you're reading this review, chances are that you're a least someone interested in the topic of bioluminescence, and that's the case, then I highly recommend you give this book a read! Professor Zimmer lectured on this topic and the technology and possibilites are AMAZING!!!