Human Osteosarcoma Cells with mEmerald-MAP4 and mCherry-Rab5a
Microtubules are part of the cytoskeleton. Their diameter is about 25 nanometers and their length varies from 200 nanometers to 25 micrometers. Microtubules are structural components inside of cells and are implicated in an array of cellular processes including cytokinesis, mitosis, and vesicular transport. The intracellular microtubule network and the cell nucleus are clearly visible in this digital video sequence due to fluorescent labeling of cultured human osteosarcoma cells (U-2 line) with mEmerald fused to MAP4 and mCherry fused to Rab5aB.
The red fluorescent protein utilized to visualize endosomes, mCherry, is one of the most useful members of the mFruit series of fluorescent proteins that were created through the directed evolution of mRFP1. Excitation and emission maxima of mCherry occur at 587 and 610 nanometers, respectively. The green fluorescent protein employed, mEmerald, is a high-performance variant of EGFP. Both the brightness and photostability of mEmerald are superior to that of EGFP. Peak excitation of mEmerald occurs at 487 nanometers and peak emission takes place at 509 nanometers.