Glow Dyes™

 

Nucleic acids are routinely visualized on agarose gels with the highly toxic ethidium bromide stain. High concentrations of ethidium bromide are either added to the molten agarose prior to pouring or to a large volume of staining buffer to stain the nucleic acids after electrophoresis. Either method results in a large amount of ethidium bromide to handle and dispose off.

 

The Glow Dyes™ are designed to minimize the use of ethidium bromide and the risk associated with the regular use of ethidium bromide.

 

Glow Dyes™ have been specifically formulated for nucleic acid electrophoresis and contain an optimized concentration of buffer agents, tracking dyes and ethidium bromide. These loading dyes reduce exposure and many of the problems associated with ethidium bromide use and disposal. Simply add an appropriate volume of Glow Dyes™ to your sample, load the gel and then visualize with UV; no need for additional ethidium bromide staining or addition of ethidium bromide to the agarose.

 

The DNA Glow Dyes™ are Ficoll based and are supplied at a 6X concentration and the RNA Glow Dyes™ are formamide based and are at a 2X concentration.

 

The DNA and RNA Loading Dyes are offered in multiple formats to meet all your needs and have variations in the following components:
 
Dyes: The loading glow dyes use Bromophenol Blue that migrates at ~300bp (0.7-1.7% agarose) or ~100bp (2.5-3.0% agarose) to highlight the migration front and Xylene Cyanol FF (CyanoBlue™ Loading Dyes) that migrates at ~4,000bp (0.7-1.7% agarose) or ~800bp (2.5-3.0% agarose) to help resolve higher molecular weight nucleic acids.

SDS: The detergent SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) is supplied in the CleanAway™ Loading Dyes and these are recommended for use with DNA that has a high level of DNA binding proteins.  The SDS eliminates DNA-protein interactions, which prevents poor DNA migration, DNA sticking to the wells or band shifts.  In addition, SDS treatment prevents long cohesive ends reannealing and producing artifactual DNA bands.

Ethidium Bromide: The benefits of ethidium bromide is the Glow™ Loading Dyes is highlighted above, however for researchers who want the benefits of our loading dyes without the ethidium bromide, we offer our Univerasl Loading Dyes

The following table highlights the different dyes and SDS present in the loading dyes, in addition, the Glow Dyes™ are also available without ethidium bromide (Universal Dyes).