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CELLULAR STAINS

Staining in various organisms

Biotium offers a wide range of cellular stains, including dyes that stain specific cellular structures, and dyes that distinguish live cells from dead. See our complete selection of Cellular Stains.

Because not every dye will stain every cell type, this table provides a general guide for whether a dye can stain your organism of interest.  A “Yes” indicates the stain is validated for the organism and may be used for reliable analysis. A “No” indicates that we do not recommend this stain for that organism; however some staining may still occur. Note: there may cell type differences that vary from the results shown in this table. See our FAQ for more information.

For most of the stains the following cell types were used:
Mammalian cells: HeLa
Yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Gram+ bacteria: Staphylococcus epidermidis
Gram- bacteria: E. coli

Cell Stains in Various Organisms

Localization

Dye

Mammalian

Yeast

Gram+ Bacteria

Gram- Bacteria

Cell Surface CellBrite™ Cytoplasmic Membrane DyesYesNoNoNo
CellBrite™ Steady Membrane DyesYesNoNoNo
CellBrite™ Fix Membrane StainsYesYesYesYes
MemBrite™ Fix Membrane StainsYesYesYesNo
BactoSpore™ 485/500 Membrane StainYes (1)Yes (1)YesYes
SynaptoGreen™ C4 (FM®1-43)YesYes (2)YesYes
SynaptoRed™ C2 (FM®4-64)YesYes (2)YesYes
CF® Dye WGA ConjugatesYesYes (3)YesNo
CF® Dye ConA ConjugatesYesYesNoNo
Calcofluor WhiteNoYesYesNo
DNA HoechstYesNo (4)YesYes
DAPIYesNo (4)YesYes
NucSpot® Live Cell Nuclear StainsYesNoYesNo
RedDot™1 Far-Red Nuclear StainYesYes (4)YesYes
BactoSpore™ 488/540 Nuclear StainNo dataNo dataYesYes
BactoView™ Live GreenYesNo (4)YesYes
BactoView™ Live RedNo (4)No (4)YesYes
DMAOYes (5)No (4)YesYes
Thiazole OrangeYes (6)YesYesYes
Dead Cells

(Yes indicates that dye is dead cell specific)
Propidium IodideYesYesYesYes
Ethidium Homodimer I (EthD-I)YesYesYesYes
Ethidium Homodimer III (EthD-III)YesYesYesYes
RedDot™2YesYesYesYes
Live-or-Dye NucFix™ RedYesYes (7)No (6)Yes
Live-or-Dye™ Fixable Viability StainsYesYesYesYes
NucSpot® Nuclear StainsYesYesNo (8)Yes
BactoView™ Dead StainsYesNo dataYesYes
Cytoplasm ViaFluor® 405 SE Cell Proliferation DyeYesNo (9)YesNo
ViaFluor® 488 SE Cell Proliferation DyeYesNo (9)YesNo
ViaFluor® CFSE Cell Proliferation DyeYesYesYesNo
Intracellular Structures MitoView™ 405YesYesYesYes
MitoView™ GreenYesYesYesYes
MitoView™ 633YesYesYesYes
MitoView™ 650YesYesYesYes
MitoView™ 720YesYesYesYes
LysoView™ 405YesNo (10)YesYes
LysoView™ 488YesNoYesNo
LysoView™ 540YesYesNoNo
LysoView™ 633YesYesNoNo
LysoView™ 650YesNoNoNo
LipidSpot™ 488YesYesYesNo
LipidSpot™ 610YesNoYesNo
Phalloidin ConjugatesYesYesNoNo
ViaFluor® Live Cell Microtubule StainsYesNo (11)No (11)No (11)
ViaVac™ Red/GreenNoYesNo dataNo data
1. Stains intracellular membranes
2. Internalizes to vacuolar membranes
3. Stains bud scars of budding yeast
4. Weak staining and not nuclear
5. Staining is not nuclear
6. Initially stains mitochondria, then redistributes to nucleus & cytoplasm
7. Dead cell specific but not nuclear
8. Stains live and dead cells
9. Not cytoplasmic, stains cell periphery
10. Staining is not lysosomal
11. Not predicted to bind yeast/bacterial cytoskeleton