Team:TU Darmstadt/Materials/Ethidium Bromide

Ethidium bromide

About

Ethidium bromide aka EtBr is a marker for nucleic acids in agarose gel electrophoresis. It does intercalate between DNA base pairs and fluorescents under UV light.

Application

For DNA staining the agarose gel is mixed with 0.0005 vol % of ethidium bromide solution (1mg/µl).

For more information take a look at the Agarose gele electrophoresis protocol.

Notes

CAUTION: EtBr is carcinogen and mutagen, the penetration time of EtBr on latex gloves is less than 5s, nitrile gloves must be worn!^[1]

Roti^® SafeGelStain is a less toxic alternative.

Due to its hazardous properties EtBr must be handled and disposed accordingly.

Supplier

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References

[1] http://www.newmarketscientific.com/datasheets/Novel_Juice_Testing_Report_012011.pdf