Protein Stain Selection Guide
| Bio-Safe Coomassie G-250 |
8–28 ng |
60 min – 2.5 hr |
Nonhazardous staining in aqueous solution; premixed; mass spectrometry compatible |
| Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 |
36–47 ng |
2.5 hr |
Simple and consistent; mass spectrometry compatible |
| Dodeca silver stain kit (Sinha et al. 2001) |
0.25–0.5 ng |
3 hr |
Simple, robust; mass spectrometry compatible; ideal for use with Dodeca stainers |
| Silver Stain Plus kit (Gottlieb and Chavko 1987) |
0.6–1.2 ng |
1.5 hr |
Simple, robust; mass spectrometry compatible |
| Silver stain (Merril et al. 1981) |
0.6–1.2 ng |
2 hr |
Stains glycoproteins, lipoproteins, lipopolysaccharides, nucleic acids |
| Oriole Fluorescent Gel Stain |
0.5–1 ng
|
1.5 hr |
Rapid protocol requires no fixing or destaining; requires UV excitation |
| Flamingo fluorescent gel stain |
0.25–0.5 ng |
5 hr |
High sensitivity; broad dynamic range; no destaining; simple; mass spectrometry compatible; excellent for laser-based scanners. |
| SYPRO Ruby protein gel stain |
1–10 ng |
3 hr |
Fluorescent protein stain; simple, robust protocol; broad dynamic range; mass spectrometry compatible |
| Zinc Stain (Fernandez-Patron et al. 1992) |
6–12 ng |
15 min |
High-contrast results; simple, fast, and reversible; compatible with elution or blotting as well as mass spectrometry |
| Copper stain (Lee et al. 1987) |
6–12 ng |
10 min |
Single reagent; simple, fast, and reversible; compatible with elution or blotting as well as mass spectrometry |
| Ethidium bromide |
50 ng |
1 hr |
Classic Fluorescent DNA stain |
