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How Safe is Your Gel Stain?
A number of ethidium bromide (EtBr) alternatives are marketed as being safe. In fact, many so-called “safe” gel stains contain dyes that are well known to bind DNA in living cells, with cytotoxic effects. GelRed® and GelGreen® are highly sensitive gel stains designed to be non-toxic and non-mutagenic by virtue of being cell membrane-impermeant, so they cannot enter living cells. Download our white paper to learn more.
Safer alternatives to EtBr, SYBR® Safe, and others
Ethidium bromide (EtBr) has been widely used for nucleic acid staining due to its low cost and good sensitivity, but its high mutagenicity makes handling and disposal costly. Many safer alternatives now exist, but often with trade-offs. For example, SYBR® Safe has low sensitivity, while SYBR® Green and SYBR® Gold lack stability. Some dyes, like Midori Green or SafeView™, are also cytotoxic. See our Gel Stains Comparison for more info.
Non-toxic, non-mutagenic, and non-hazardous for disposal
Superior sensitivity and flexible applications
GelRed® and GelGreen® offer high sensitivity as precast or post gel stains. GelRed® is more sensitive than EtBr and SYBR® Gold and is also available as a prestain loading dye. GelGreen® is spectrally similar to SYBR® Safe, but is much more sensitive and works with blue light systems. PAGE GelRed® stains DNA in acrylamide gels. Both dyes are as stable and easy to handle as EtBr and are also offered in pre-coated agarose. See the GelRed® Product Information Sheet or GelGreen® Product Information Sheet.
- More sensitive than EtBr, SYBR® Safe, and others
- Use in precast or post-stain
- Compatible with downstream cloning and sequencing
- GelRed® available in 6X loading buffer format
- PAGE GelRed® for acrylamide gels
- GelRed®: use UV transilluminator and EtBr filter
- GelGreen®: Use UV or blue LED and SYBR® filter, or our Gel-Bright™ Laser Diode Gel Illuminator
GelRed® and GelGreen® Outshine Competitors
Application Notes
GelRed® & GelGreen® DNA Agarose Gel Stain Formats
| Product Name | Catalog Number | Size |
|---|---|---|
| GelRed® 10,000X in water | 41003-T | 0.1 mL (Trial Size) |
| 41003 | 0.5 mL | |
| 41003-1 | 10 mL | |
| GelGreen® 10,000X in water | 41005 | 0.5 mL |
| 41005-1 | 10 mL | |
| GelRed® 3X in water | 41001 | 4 L |
| 6X GelRed® Prestain Loading Buffer, Orange Tracking Dye | 41010 | 1 mL |
| GelRed® Prestain Plus 6X DNA Loading Dye | 41011 | 1 mL |
| GelRed® Agarose LE | 41029-5G | 5 g |
| 41029-50G | 50 g | |
| GelGreen® Agarose LE | 41030-5G | 5 g |
| 41030-50G | 50 g |
Choose the Right Stain for Your Application
| Product / Method | Procedure | Advantages | Disadvantages | Recommended for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNA staining with EMBER™ Ultra DNA Gel Kit | Agarose is supplied pre-coated with EMBER™ Ultra Dye, just dissolve, heat, and pour. | • Safer and more convenient, no need to handle concentrated dye • Superior sensitivity, detect as little as ≤1 ng DNA • No need for post-electrophoresis staining • Optimal for blue LED gel imagers | • Not suitable for PAGE, DGGE, EMSA, or PFGE gels • Dye may cause band migration issues when loading larger amounts of DNA (more than ~200 ng/band), or for some restriction digests | • Routine agarose gels |
| RNA staining with EMBER™ Ultra RNA Gel Kit | Agarose is supplied pre-coated with EMBER™ Ultra Dye, just dissolve, heat, and pour. | • Safer and more convenient stain for RNA, no need to handle concentrated dye • Superior sensitivity, detect as little as ≤5 ng RNA • No need for post-electrophoresis staining • Included loading dye contains formamide for denaturing • Optimal for blue LED gel imagers | • Will stain DNA as well as RNA • Dye may cause band migration issues when loading larger amounts of RNA (more than ~200 ng/band) | • Routine RNA gel electrophoresis • Evaluate total RNA integrity and DNA contamination |
| DNA prestaining with GelRed® Prestain Plus 6X DNA Loading Dye | GelRed® loading buffer is added directly to the DNA sample before loading | • Fast & simple: one-step sample loading & DNA staining • Less concentrated dye for safer handling • Can re-run a gel to use empty lanes | • Not recommended for PAGE, DGGE, EMSA, or PFGE gels • Dye may cause band migration issues when loading larger amounts of DNA (more than ~100 ng/band), or for some restriction digests | • Routine agarose gels • Recommended loading 50-200 ng ladder or 2-5 uL PCR product ( ~100 ng/band or less) |
| Precast staining with GelRed® 10,000X in water or GelGreen® 10,000X in water | GelRed® or GelGreen® is mixed with molten agarose before gel casting | Familiar protocol, rapid results | ||
| Precast staining with GelRed® Agarose LE or GelGreen® Agarose LE | Agarose is supplied pre-coated with GelRed® or GelGreen®, just dissolve, heat, and pour | Safer & more convenient, no need to handle concentrated dye | ||
| Post-electrophoresis staining with GelRed® 10,000X in water or GelGreen® 10,000X in water - or - GelRed® 3X in water | No fluorescent dye is added to the gel, it is stained in 3X GelRed® or 3X GelGreen® solution after electrophoresis | • Most accurate sizing/sharpest bands • Staining solution can be re-used • Enhance sensitivity by adding NaCl | Extra staining step (up to 30 minutes) after electrophoresis (some customers report good results after only 5 minutes if dye is not reused) | • Highly accurate band sizing • Gels with more than ~100 ng DNA per band • Analyzing restriction digests |
| Post-electrophoresis staining of PAGE gels using PAGE GelRed® 10,000X or 1X in water | No fluorescent dye is added to the gel, it is stained in 1X PAGE GelRed® solution after electrophoresis | • Formulated for efficient penetration and staining of polyacrylamide gels • Like the classic GelRed®, it is safe and environmentally friendly | Extra staining step of approx. 30 minutes after electrophoresis | Staining of nucleic acids in PAGE gels |
