From a Pitt alum:

If UV excitation is an option, try DAPI or a combination of DAPI and
distamycin (both available from Sigma). It's difficult to say more, not
knowing your application, but these dyes will stain some classes of highly
repetitive (especially AT-rich) DNA. DAPI alone gives extremely bright
staining of mouse heterochromatin. DAPI/Distamycin stains certain
constitutive heterochromatin-containing regions in humans.

You may want to take a look at these references:

Exp. Cell Res. 111:327-332; 1978
Chromosoma 60:15-25; 1977
Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 27:190-193; 1980

Hope this helps!

Karen Gustashaw



>Folks, does anyone know of a specific fluorescent stain for heterochromatin?
>Simon
>
>
>---------------------------------------
>Simon C. Watkins Ph.D. MRCPath
>Associate Professor
>Director Center for Biologic Imaging
>University of Pittsburgh
>Pittsburgh PA 15261
>tel: 412-648-3051
>fax: 412-648-8330
>URL http://sbic6.sbic.pitt.edu
>-------------------------------------


Karen M. Gustashaw. M.S.
Department of Genetics
Case Western Reserve University
Biomedical Research Building, Room 709a
2109 Adelbert Road
Cleveland, OH  44106

Telephone: (216) 368-3327
FAX: (216) 368-3432
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