Expression of Venus fluorophore in the pig heart and absence of Venus in erythrocytes. (A) Exemplarily, a transgenic (left) and a wild type (right) pig heart are shown under specific excitation of the Venus fluorophore. Inset, brightfield view; (B) Smear of blood cells. Brightfield view (left), specific Venus excitation (right). Note, red blood cells showed no Venus expression (some erythrocytes are indicated by an arrow); (C) Western blot detection of Venus in blood fractions. In blood, the Venus expression is restricted to leucocytes. Green bar indicates samples from Venus transgenic pig; black bar samples from wild type pig. M, molecular size marker; cb, complete blood; p, plasma; e, erythrocyte fraction; l, leucocyte fraction. Apparent molecular weight of Venus protein is ~30 kD.