Figure 3. Schematic of third generation lentiviral and packaging vectors.

The lentiviral vector (top) expresses your gene of interest along with a fluorescent color marker such as GFP or RFP for titering and expression in vivo. The packaging vectors (pVSVg, pMDL, pRev) are necessary for proper assembly of the lentivirus production. Please see Tiscornia, et al. (2006) for more detailed information on this system and how to efficiently produce high titer lentivirus¹⁸.