Are there any non lethal flurochromes for staining bacterial genomes? September 28, 2007 6:50 PM Subscribe
I wish to stain a colony of bacteria so that I can make relative measurements of their genome size, and I do not want to harm them in the process.
Is this possible? posted by paradroid to science & nature (3 comments total)
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I think this is tricky, as most DNA-binding dyes tend to be mutagenic and thus toxic to cells. Also, many of the commonly used DNA-binding dyes are not that cell-permeable.
The Molecular Probes handbook lists many DNA-binding dyes, some of which are cell permeable, and I think some of which are relatively non-toxic. See sections 8.1 and 8.6.
If you do find a non-toxic cell-permeant dye, beware that some will bind to RNA as well as DNA, and you'll probably need to do your own calibration of fluorescence instensity -> genome size.
Good luck. posted by pombe at 7:00 PM on September 28, 2007
thanks. i should add that moderately mutagenic is ok, even desirable for my application, just can't be lethal. posted by paradroid at 7:25 PM on September 28, 2007
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The Molecular Probes handbook lists many DNA-binding dyes, some of which are cell permeable, and I think some of which are relatively non-toxic. See sections 8.1 and 8.6.
If you do find a non-toxic cell-permeant dye, beware that some will bind to RNA as well as DNA, and you'll probably need to do your own calibration of fluorescence instensity -> genome size.
Good luck.
posted by pombe at 7:00 PM on September 28, 2007