These bacterial expression vectors carry the gene for either GFP (wild type Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein) or GFPuv (a GFP variant optimized for maximal fluorescence when excited by UV light [360–400 nm]) and are driven by the lac promoter. These vectors can also be used as a source of the indicated fluorescent protein coding sequences. The fluorescent protein gene can be amplified by PCR or readily excised using the flanking restriction enzyme sites.