SYBR™ Safe DNA Gel Stain (Invitrogen™)

SYBR™ Safe DNA Gel Stain is a highly sensitive stain for visualization of DNA in agarose or acrylamide gels. SYBR™ Safe stain is specifically formulated to be a less hazardous alternative to ethidium bromide that can utilize either blue light or UV excitation.

• Reduce your exposure to highly mutagenic ethidium bromide and harmful UV light
• Increase your sensitivity by reducing nonspecific background fluorescence
• Use in place of ethidium bromide for all staining applications, including RNA staining

A better DNA stain
SYBR™ Safe DNA Gel Stain is a better nucleic acid staining reagent for all of your molecular biology needs. Not only is SYBR™ Safe DNA Gel Stain better for you and the environment, it’s better for your sample and your institution. Read more as to why SYBR™ Safe DNA gel stain is your better option.

Safer than ethidium bromide
SYBR™ Safe DNA Gel Stain has been specifically formulated and evaluated in a battery of toxicity tests with results indicating so that it is less mutagenic and safer for you to work with than ethidium bromide. An independent laboratory showed reduced mutagenicity of SYBR™ Safe stain compared to ethidium bromide using the Ames test (see figure). You can further decrease your exposure risk by using visible blue-light illumination with SYBR™ Safe stain rather than UV illumination. This is especially valuable when performing exposure-intensive protocols like cutting bands out of gels.

Excellent sensitivity
SYBR™ Safe stain offers excellent sensitivity in nucleic acid visualization and documentation applications with either UV excitation or blue-light excitation. When bound to nucleic acids, the green-fluorescent SYBR™ Safe stain has fluorescence excitation maxima at ∼280 and ∼502 nm, and an emission maximum at ∼530 nm (see figure). Plus, when used with blue light illumination, SYBR™ Safe stain has less background fluorescence than ethidium bromide–stained gels illuminated with UV light.

Easy to use
SYBR™ Safe stain is supplied as a 10,000X concentrate in DMSO which can be used just like a solution of ethidium bromide. SYBR™ Safe stain can be mixed into an agarose gel for staining during electrophoresis or the gel can be incubated in a solution of SYBR™ Safe stain following electrophoresis. SYBR™ Safe stain can be stored at room temperature in its original packaging to avoid excessive light exposure. We also offer SYBR™ Safe E-Gel pre-cast agarose gels for the ultimate in convenience.