Nucleic Acid Stains

Visualizing nucleic acids embedded in the agarose gel following electrophoresis is a standard practice perhaps as old as the field of molecular biology itself. Nucleic acid stains enable the researcher to determine sizes of DNA bands produced by standard molecular techniques, such as DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, restriction digestion, and cloning. For many years, the industry standard has been ethidium bromide (EtBr), which, when complexed with DNA, emits an intense red-orange fluorescence under UV light. However, as EtBr strongly intercalates with double-stranded DNA, it is a toxic mutagen. When taking safety into account, other stains have also become popular, such as SYBR-based dyes described to be gel-safe. Browse through our catalog to see the different options in nucleic acid stains from different manufacturers.