LiGreen™ is a sensitive, stable and environmentally safe green fluorescent nucleic acid dye designed to stain either dsDNA, ssDNA or RNA in agarose gels. These stains are next-generation fluorescent nucleic acid gel stains designed to replace the highly mutagenic ethidium bromide (EB). These dyes are superior to EB by having a combination of high sensitivity, low toxicity and great stability.
Selection Guide
Specifications | LiGreen™ | LiGreen™ Plus | LiGreen™ Ultra |
Sensitivity (dsDNA) | Sensitive (~2 ng) | Highly sensitive (~0.2 ng) | Ultra sensitive (~60 pg) |
Nonhazardous | √ | √ | √ |
dsDNA | √ | √ | √ |
ssDNA | √ | √ | |
RNA | √ | √ | |
Precast gel staining | √ | √ | |
Post-gel staining | |||
Gel band excision for cloning | √ | √ | √ |
Excitation Source | Blue light/UV | Blue light/UV | Blue light/UV |
Recommended emission filter | SYBR filter | SYBR filter | EB filter |
Key Features
• Safer than EB: Shown by Ames test and other tests to be non-mutagentic and non-cytotoxic.
• Ultra-sensitive: Much more sensitive than GelGreen and SYBR Safe.
• Compatible with standard blue LED and UV transilluminators.
• Use with blue light reduces mutagenesis for gel excision and subsequent cloning.
Case Study
Gel stain results with LiGreen™, LiGreen™ Plus, and LiGreen™ Ultra (Left), and comparison results with SYBR Safe and GelGreen (Right). Left: Two-fold serial dilutions of a 1 kb DNA ladder were loaded onto each gel in 3 lanes in the amounts of 25 ng, 50 ng and 100 ng (left to right), then post-stained with LiGreen™, LiGreen™ Plus, and LiGreen™ Ultra. Right: Results show LiGreen™ has similar sensitivity with SYBR Safe and GelGreen, LiGreen™ Plus and LiGreen™ Ultra have much better sensitivity.
Cell permeability tests with SYBR Safe, LiGreen™, LiGreen™ Plus, and LiGreen™ Red. Hela cells were incubated at 37ºC with 1× SYBR Safe, LiGreen™, LiGreen™ Plus, and LiGreen™ Red for 30 min. LiGreen™ Plus and LiGreen™ Red could not penetrate cell membranes to bind DNA in living cells, and were much safer than SYBR Safe, which rapidly entered cells and stained nuclei.
Customer Testimonials
"I have been using LiGreen™ Ultra Nucleic Acid Gel Stain and dNTPs set (100mM each) more than one years, both products are of excellent quality and are cheaper than other companies, I will continue to use them."