DsRed is a fluorescent protein cloned from the oral disk of a coral species belonging to the Discosoma genus. The absorption maximum of DsRed is approximately 558 nanometers and the emission peak of the fluorescent protein is approximately 583 nanometers, in the yellow region of the visible spectrum. Some investigations have suggested that these maxima may be shifted to higher values through various mechanisms, such as the mutation of the lysine residue at position 83 to methionine. DsRed is of most interest as an expressible fluorescent reporter system and conjugate that is useful as a complement to green fluorescent protein (GFP), which is a derivative isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. Though somewhat resistant to photobleaching and the effects of changes in pH, DsRed does possess certain qualities that may limit its application. The most notable of these traits include slow, and sometimes incomplete, maturation from green to a red color and substantial oligomerization.

The adherent culture of Indian Muntjac deer skin cells presented in the digital image above was transfected with a pDsRed-Mitochondria plasmid subcellular localization vector, thus localizing a red fluorescent protein tag to the intracellular mitochondrial network. The culture was fixed and subsequently labeled with DAPI and Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated to phalloidin, targeting DNA and F-actin, respectively. Images were recorded in grayscale with a QImaging Retiga Fast-EXi camera system coupled to an Olympus BX-51 microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks provided by Omega Optical. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.