Dear Matilde,

We have good experience with chromomycin A3, very specific for DNA. It
was
recently discussed also in this group and is frequently used as a DNA
stain in flow cytometers. If you like I can send you specifc references.


Patrick Van Oostveldt
Lab. Biochemistry & Molecular Cytology
FLTBW
Coupure 653
9000 GENT (Belgium)

tel 32 9 264 5969
fax 32 9 264 6231


On Wed, 22 Jan 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> One of my colleagues is interested in using the nucleic acid stain Ethidium homodimer-1
> (EthD-1) from Molecular Probes to label nuclei in plant cells. He needs an alternative to
> DAPI which we could use with an Argon (488/514)  or HeNe laser for confocal work.
> Does anybody know how EthD-1 compares to DAPI in specificity for DNA vs. RNA,
> permeability, etc?
> Does anybody have a suggestion of another dye which would have similar specificity than
> DAPI but could be used with an Ar/He-Ne laser system?
> We would appreciate any information that anybody could make available to us, before he
> decides to purchase the dye (since it is pricy).
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Matilde M. Urrutia
> Dept. Biological Sciences
> The University of Alabama
> Box 870206
> Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-0206
>
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>