Transformed (Simian Virus 40) African Green Monkey Kidney Fibroblast Cells (COS-7 Line)

The culture of COS-7 fibroblasts illustrated above was transfected with chimeric EGFP and ECFP plasmid vectors that express fluorescent fusion proteins targeted at cytoplasmic actin and cell nuclei, respectively. The specimen was also transfected with a pDsRed-Mitochondria plasmid subcellular localization vector, thus localizing a red fluorescent protein tag to the intracellular mitochondrial network. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to either a Nikon E-600 or Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.