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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 Dyes Yes No No No
CellBrite™ Steady Membrane Dyes Yes No No No
CellBrite™ Fix Membrane Stains Yes Yes Yes Yes
MemBrite™ Fix Membrane Stains Yes Yes Yes No
BactoSpore™ 485/500 Membrane Stain Yes (1) Yes (1) Yes Yes
SynaptoGreen™ C4 (FM®1-43) Yes Yes (2) Yes Yes
SynaptoRed™ C2 (FM®4-64) Yes Yes (2) Yes Yes
CF® Dye WGA Conjugates Yes Yes (3) Yes No
CF® Dye ConA Conjugates Yes Yes No No
Calcofluor White No Yes Yes No
DNA Hoechst Yes No (4) Yes Yes
DAPI Yes No (4) Yes Yes
NucSpot® Live Cell Nuclear Stains Yes No Yes No
RedDot™1 Far-Red Nuclear Stain Yes Yes (4) Yes Yes
BactoSpore™ 488/540 Nuclear Stain No data No data Yes Yes
BactoView™ Live Green Yes No (4) Yes Yes
BactoView™ Live Red No (4) No (4) Yes Yes
DMAO Yes (5) No (4) Yes Yes
Thiazole Orange Yes (6) Yes Yes Yes
Dead Cells

(Yes indicates that dye is dead cell specific)
Propidium Iodide Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ethidium Homodimer I (EthD-I) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ethidium Homodimer III (EthD-III) Yes Yes Yes Yes
RedDot™2 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Live-or-Dye NucFix™ Red Yes Yes (7) No (6) Yes
Live-or-Dye™ Fixable Viability Stains Yes Yes Yes Yes
NucSpot® Nuclear Stains Yes Yes No (8) Yes
BactoView™ Dead Stains Yes No data Yes Yes
Cytoplasm ViaFluor® 405 SE Cell Proliferation Dye Yes No (9) Yes No
ViaFluor® 488 SE Cell Proliferation Dye Yes No (9) Yes No
ViaFluor® CFSE Cell Proliferation Dye Yes Yes Yes No
Intracellular Structures MitoView™ 405 Yes Yes Yes Yes
MitoView™ Green Yes Yes Yes Yes
MitoView™ 633 Yes Yes Yes Yes
MitoView™ 650 Yes Yes Yes Yes
MitoView™ 720 Yes Yes Yes Yes
LysoView™ 405 Yes No (10) Yes Yes
LysoView™ 488 Yes No Yes No
LysoView™ 540 Yes Yes No No
LysoView™ 633 Yes Yes No No
LysoView™ 650 Yes No No No
LipidSpot™ 488 Yes Yes Yes No
LipidSpot™ 610 Yes No Yes No
Phalloidin Conjugates Yes Yes No No
ViaFluor® Live Cell Microtubule Stains Yes No (11) No (11) No (11)
ViaVac™ Red/Green No Yes No data No 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