New Cyanine Dyes Reduce Time and Cost of Oligo Labelling

Link Technologies Ltd, an ISO 9001:2008 certified specialist oligonucleotide reagent manufacturer, has launched a range of high quality cyanine dye products to support the continued increase in demand for fluorescent labelling in biological imaging and molecular diagnostics. As well as introducing a new range of 3’-CPG solid supports modified with Cyanine 540 and Cyanine 650, Link Technologies now also manufactures and supplies the commonly used phosphoramidites, so researchers can now source an extended range of cyanine reagents produced to Link Technologies’ exacting standards.

Until now, 3’-cyanine modification of an oligonucleotide could only be done post-synthetically, normally to an amino-modified oligo, or by the use of a cyanine phosphoramidite onto a universal or modified support that will not interfere with the intended use of the oligo. With Link Technologies’ innovative 3’-modified 1000Å CPG supports, customers can add cyanine dyes directly to their oligos of interest without any additional modification step. Link Technologies’ cyanine dye supports therefore save time by reducing the number of experimental steps and avoid the unnecessary cost of amino-modified oligos or the inconvenience of combining cyanine phosphoramidites and universal supports.

Used as fluorescent markers in oligonucleotide synthesis, dyes are central to numerous detection techniques, such as probes for monitoring real-time PCR, fluorescence in situ hybridisation, SERRS-based DNA detection assays and FRET studies in general (e.g. DNA-protein interaction studies). 3’-Labelling is particularly useful in the latter where the FRET partner is incorporated either at the 5’-end or within the oligonucleotide sequence.

For more information on the new Cyanine 540 and Cyanine 650 phosphoramidites and supports, and other oligonucleotide reagents, please visit the Link Technologies website at www.linktech.co.uk or follow us on Twitter: @linktechdna.