Douglas Prasher

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Douglas C. Prasher (born August 1951) is an American molecular biologist. He is known for his work to clone and sequence the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) and for his proposal to use GFP as a tracer molecule.

Contents 1 Career 2 Publications 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

Prasher received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Ohio State University in 1979. From 1979 to 1983, he worked in genetics and biochemistry research at the University of Georgia, where he identified aequorin.^[1] He then joined the Biology Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts where he studied bioluminescence. In 1988, he received a three-year, $200,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to try to clone the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP), the protein that gives the jellyfish its "glow". Prasher succeeded in this project, and later shared his findings with Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien after each scientist had communicated with him.^{[2] [3]} Prasher had difficulty in achieving fluorescence of GFP in other species in recombinant studies^[4], whereas Chalfie and Tsien were more successful in those studies. GFP has subsequently found application as a biochemical tracer such as in fluorescent studies on DNA.

However, Prasher failed to secure tenure at Woods Hole because he had used up all three years trying to find a genetic sequence that matched the protein - a task that could be done quickly today - and he had no funding left.^{[5] [1]} Prasher had applied to the National Institutes of Health for funding but had been turned down. Subsequently, Prasher worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at its Otis Plant Protection Center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts as a population geneticist, and later transferred to the Plant Germplasm Quarantine & Biotechnology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. After funding was also cut at that location, he went to work for NASA subcontractor AZ Technology in Huntsville, Alabama, where he lost his job after another round of funding cuts.^{[6] [7]}

On 8 October 2008, the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Chalfie, and Tsien for their work on GFP.^[8] Prasher was not included among the Nobel laureates, as only 3 individuals can share in a single Nobel Prize. Chalfie said of Prasher's contribution:

"(Douglas Prasher's) work was critical and essential for the work we did in our lab. They could've easily given the prize to Douglas and the other two and left me out."^[9]

Tsien also agreed that they couldn't have done it without Prasher and "Doug Prasher had a very important role."^[10]

In an October 9, 2008 phone interview with National Public Radio (NPR) and October 14, 2008 TV interview with Inside Edition, Prasher reported that he was unable to find a job in science, his life savings had run out and that he was working as a courtesy shuttle bus driver for Bill Penney Toyota in Huntsville, Alabama at $10 an hour.^{[3] [7] [9] [11] [10]} In the NPR broadcast, one of his former colleagues called Prasher's current situation a "staggering waste of talent."^[3] Prasher has stated his wish to resume a career in science, but not particularly with jellyfish.^[6] He has publicly expressed his pleasure at learning of the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Shimomura, Chalfie and Tsien:

"I'm really happy for them. I was really surprised that particular topic carried that much weight."^[6]

Chalfie and Tsien invited Prasher and his wife, Virginia Eckenrode, to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony, as their guests and at their expense.^[12] All three of the 2008 Chemistry laureates thanked Prasher in their speeches.^[13]

Prasher and Eckrenrode have three children.

[edit] Publications

• Prasher, D., McCann, R.O., Cormier, M.J., Cloning and expression of the cDNA coding for aequorin, a bioluminescent calcium-binding protein. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 126, 1259-1268 (1985).
• Richard, J.P., Prasher, D.C., Ives, D.H., Frey, P.A., Chiral [¹⁸O]phosphorothioates. The stereochemical course of thiophosphoryl group transfer catalyzed by nucleoside phosphotransferase. J. Biol. Chem., 254(11), 4339-4341 (1979).
• Prasher, D.C., Carr, M.C., Ives, D.H., Tsai, T.C., Frey, P.A., Nucleoside phosphotransferase from barley. Characterization and evidence for ping pong kinetics involving phosphoryl enzyme. J. Biol. Chem., 257(9), 4931-4939 (1982).
• Prasher, D.C., Conarro, L., Kushner, S.R., Amplification and purification of exonuclease I from Escherichia coli K12. J. Biol. Chem., 258(10), 6340-6343 (1983)
• Prasher, D.C., McCann, R.O., Longiaru, M., Cormier, M.J., Sequence comparisons of complementary DNAs encoding aequorin isotypes. Biochemistry, 26(5), 1326-1332 (1987).
• Phillips, G.J., Prasher, D.C., Kushner, S.R., Physical and biochemical characterization of cloned sbcB and xonA mutations from Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacteriol., 170(5), 2089-2094 (1988).
• Cormier, M.J., Prasher, D.C., Longiaru, M., McCann, R.O., The enzymology and molecular biology of the Ca2+-activated photoprotein, aequorin. Photochem. Photobiol., 49(4), 509-512 (1989).
• Prasher, D.C., O'Kane, D., Lee, J., Woodward, B., The lumazine protein gene in Photobacterium phosphoreum is linked to the lux operon. Nucleic Acids Res., 18(21), 6450 (1990).
• O'Kane, D.J., Woodward, B., Lee, J., Prasher, D.C., Borrowed proteins in bacterial bioluminescence. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88(4), 1100-1104 (1991).
• O'Kane, D.J., Prasher, D.C., Evolutionary origins of bacterial bioluminescence. Mol. Microbiol., 6(4), 443-449 (1992).
• Prasher, D.C., Eckenrode, V.K., Ward, W.W., Prendergast F.G., Cormier, M.J., Primary structure of the Aequorea victoria green-fluorescent protein. Gene, 111(2), 229-233 (1992).
• Hannick, L.I., Prasher, D.C., Schultz, L.W., Deschamps, J.R., Ward, K.B., Preparation and initial characterization of crystals of the photoprotein aequorin from Aequorea victoria. Proteins, 15(1), 103-107 (1993).
• Cody, C.W., Prasher, D.C., Westler, W.M., Prendergast, F.G., Ward, W.W., Chemical structure of the hexapeptide chromophore of the Aequorea green-fluorescent protein. Biochemistry, 32(5), 1212-1218 (1993).
• Chalfie, M., Tu, Y., Euskirchen, G., Ward, W.W., Prasher, D.C., Green fluorescent protein as a marker for gene expression. Science, 263(5148), 802-805 (1994).
• Heim, R., Prasher, D.C., Tsien, R.Y., Wavelength mutations and posttranslational autoxidation of green fluorescent protein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91(26), 12501-12504 (1994).
• Prasher, D.C., Using GFP to see the light. Trends Genet., 11(8), 320-323 (1995).
• Haseloff, J., Siemering, K.R., Prasher, D.C., Hodge, S., Removal of a cryptic intron and subcellular localization of green fluorescent protein are required to mark transgenic Arabidopsis plants brightly. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94(6), 2122-2127 (1997).
• Bernon, G., Schander, C., Prasher, D., Robinson, D., Survey and status of terrestrial slugs in North America American Malacological Society Abstracts 2000, 41 (2000).
• Barr, NB, Cook, A., Elder, P., Molongoski , J., Prasher, D., Robinson D.G. Application of a DNA barcode using the 16S rRNA gene to diagnose pest Arion species in the USA. " J. Moll. Stud. 75: 187-191 (2009).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• TerraSig blog, Nobel Prize heartbreak - Dr Douglas Prasher
• In Cites, An interview with Martin Chalfie, Ph.D.
• Davidson College, Green Fluorescent Protein as a Reporter Gene
• The Green Fluorescent Protein or GFP
• The Scientist.com, on-line discussion, "What about Douglas Prasher?"
• Adam Smith, Telephone interview with Martin Chalfie following the Nobel Prize announcement
• Ned Potter, "The Man Who Missed the Nobel Prize". ABC News Blog, Science and Society, 10 October 2008.
• Marc Zimmer, Connecticut College webpage on GFP
• Douglas C. Prasher - Employee Biography - USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service