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Monkey Kidney Cells with mEmerald-Tubulin and mCherry-Rab7a

Microtubules are not only composed of tubulin heterodimers, but also own an assortment of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). A MAP is any protein that binds along the side of a microtubule and changes the characteristics of the cytoskeletal filament. Several different MAPs have been identified as affecting microtubules in different manners. For example, some microtubule-associated proteins regulate the interactions of microtubules with other components of the cell or control the direction vesicle movement along the structures, whereas other MAPs stabilize the tubular filaments.

The red fluorescent protein mCherry is one of the original mFruit series of fluorescent proteins developed from mRFP1. The peak excitation wavelength of mCherry is 587 nanometers and peak emission of the fluorescent protein occurs at 610 nanometers. In addition to being tagged for endosomes, the African green monkey kidney fibroblast cells (CV-1 line) in this video were labeled for microtubules with mEmerald fused to tubulin. mEmerald is a variant of the enhanced Aequorea derivative EGFP. Peak excitation and emission of mEmerald take place at 487 and 509 nanometers, respectively.