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Ethidium Bromide (EtBr) |
Ethidium bromide is a fluorescent dye used to visualize DNA and RNA in gels. Ethidium bromide is a DNA intercalator, inserting itself between the base pairs in the double helix. Ethidium bromide has UV absorbance maxima at 300 and 520 nm, and an emission maximum at 590 nm. The detection limit of DNA bound to ethidium bromide is 0.5 to 5.0 ng/band.
Ethidium bromide is routinely used to stain DNA in gels. It is also used to detect protein-DNA complexes in band shift assays and to observe single DNA molecules during gel electrophoresis. Staining of ssDNA or RNA is less sensitive, often requiring 10 times more nucleic acid for equivalent detection.
We offer Invitrogen UltraPure Ethidium Bromide as an aqueous solution, which can be used as provided or diluted to the desired concentration. It can detect as low as 1 ng of nucleic acids in agarose gels and is inexpensive compared to alternate DNA stains.
Ethidium bromide can be used in both post-electrophoresis staining and in in-gel staining methods.
Learn more about electrophoresis staining
NOTE: Ethidium bromide is a potent mutagen and must be handled with extreme caution. With advancements in stain chemistry, safer and highly sensitive stains such as SYBR Safe DNA Gel Stain, SYBR Green I Nucleic Acid Gel Stain, and SYBR Gold Nucleic Acid Gel Stain are available.
Read guidelines on nucleic acid stain selection
Explore alternatives to EtBr
Access learning resources—a knowledge base for all things nucleic acid electrophoresis.
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E-Gel Precast Gel and Ladder Selection Tool for Invitrogen Power Snap devices.
Find answers to your questions on nucleic acid gel electrophoresis using acrylamide or agarose gels, including E-gels.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.