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July 24, 2020

Why does my RNA or ssDNA appear yellowish-orange or pinkish with GelGreen®?

By: Saloni Pasta, PhD

We and other users have often observed that GelGreen® stains ssDNA and RNA orange/ pink and dsDNA green. We have also seen that smaller dsDNA fragments can appear orange-pink, the color ranging from white-pink-orange. We are not sure about the underlying mechanism, possibly the structure of single-stranded nucleic acids favors an altered stacking interaction of GelGreen® monomers leading to the formation of J-aggregates that have red emission.