Figure 3. Transfection of E10 chick retinal cultures with the CMV promoter driving the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene.

10 µg of the plasmid pCMV-EGFP, containing a PCR-amplified fragment of the CMV promoter cloned into the SalI and BamHI sites of pEGFP-1 (Clontech), was used to transfect cultures via calcium phosphate precipitation. Photo was taken two days after transfection. Hundreds to thousands of cells fluoresce brightly per 60 mm dish. Fluorescing cells exhibit a variety of morphologies, indicating that many types of cells (neurons, glia, photoreceptors, etc.) are synthesizing EGFP under the control of the CMV promoter.