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Dear all,

I want to conjugate a red fluorophore to a monoclonal rat antibody. The 
imaging setup is optimized for eGFP/mCherry imaging, so I'm looking for 
good fluorophores, either green or red. How does the Atto dyes from 
Atto-Tec compare to Molecular Porbes' Alexa dyes (brightness, bleaching, 
live-cell imaging) ? Specifically, I'd be interested in inputs for 
Atto488 vs Alexa488 and Atto590 vs Alexa594.

Is it simple to couple fluorophores (I've never done it) ? Can I just by 
the NHS ester and a column or is it better to buy a (rather expensive) 
labeling kit from Invitrogen (Alexa dyes) or Jena (Atto dyes )?

Thank you for your informations and advices,


-- 
Christophe Leterrier

Postdoc
INSERM UMR641 Neurobiology of ionic channels
IFR Jean Roche 
<http://ifrjr.nord.univ-mrs.fr/-Institut-Jean-Roche-?lang=en> - 
Mediterranee University
Marseille, France