Fluorescent Protein Stains

Fluorescent protein gel staining, when combined with an appropriate imager, is a superior approach for protein analysis compared to Coomassie and silver staining. Fluorescent gel stains offer advantages such as broad linear range, higher sensitivity, and mass spectrometry compatibility. Bio-Rad offers three types of fluorescent protein gel stains, each optimized for your imager requirements:

Oriole™ fluorescent gel stain — An easy-to-use, fast, sensitive, and highly linear protein gel stain for visualization and quantitation of proteins in SDS-PAGE gels. The simple protocol requires a one-step staining process without prior fixing. Since destaining is not required, protein samples can be accurately visualized and quantitated in less than 2 hours. The excitation and emission characteristics of Oriole make it ideal for UV-based imagers.

Flamingo™ fluorescent gel stain — This 10x solution contains a novel dye that fluoresces when bound to denatured proteins. This easy-to-use gel stain can be used in both 1-D and 2-D electrophoretic applications and can detect down to 0.5 ng of protein. The staining procedure is a simple two-step protocol that can be completed in as little as 5 hours. The steps are not time sensitive and destaining is not required. Stained gels may be stored in the dark at 2–8°C for up to 6 months without significant loss of imaging sensitivity. Flamingo fluorescent gel stain is compatible with mass spectrometry. Gels stained with Flamingo fluorescent gel stain can also be visualized with a variety of fluorescence imaging systems, but it is particularly optimized for laser-based fluorescence scanners such as the Molecular Imager® PharosFX™ system.

SYPRO® Ruby protein gel stain — The most widely used gel stain for 2-D electrophoresis, ready-to-use SYPRO® Ruby protein gel stain is compatible with mass spectrometry and Edman-based sequencing applications. It can be visualized with UV or blue light transilluminators or laser scanners.