The DyLight Fluor family of

fluorescent Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

dyes are produced by Dyomics in collaboration with

Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is an American life science and clinical research company. It is a global supplier of analytical instruments, clinical development solutions, specialty diagnostics, laboratory, pharmaceutical and biotechnology s ...

. DyLight dyes are typically used in biotechnology and research applications as

biomolecule A biomolecule or biological molecule is loosely defined as a molecule produced by a living organism and essential to one or more typically biological processes. Biomolecules include large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids ...

, cell and tissue labels for

fluorescence microscopy A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. A fluorescence micro ...

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

Applications

Historically, fluorophores such as

fluorescein Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye based on the xanthene tricyclic structural motif, formally belonging to Triarylmethane dye, triarylmethine dyes family. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. ...

rhodamine Rhodamine is a family of related dyes, a subset of the triarylmethane dyes. They are derivatives of xanthene. Important members of the rhodamine family are rhodamine 6G, Rhodamin WT, Texas Red (Sulforhodamin 101), rhodamine 123, and rhod ...

, Cy3 and Cy5 have been used in a wide variety of applications. These dyes have limitations for use in microscopy and other applications that require exposure to an intense light source such as a laser, because they photobleach quickly (however, bleaching can be reduced at least 10 fold using oxygen scavenging). DyLight Fluors have comparable excitation and emission spectra and are claimed to be more photostable, brighter, and less pH-sensitive. The excitation and emission spectra of the DyLight Fluor series cover much of the

visible spectrum The visible spectrum is the spectral band, band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visual perception, visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called ''visible light'' (or simply light). The optica ...

and extend into the

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

region, allowing detection using most fluorescence microscopes, as well as infrared imaging systems.

Synthesis

DyLight Fluors are synthesized through

sulfonate In organosulfur chemistry, a sulfonate is a salt, anion or ester of a sulfonic acid. Its formula is , containing the functional group , where R is typically an organyl group, amino group or a halogen atom. Sulfonates are the conjugate bases of ...

addition to

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by an unsaturated lactone ring , forming a second six-me ...

xanthene Xanthene (9''H''-xanthene, 10''H''-9-oxaanthracene) is the organic compound with the formula CH2 6H4sub>2O. It is a yellow solid that is soluble in common organic solvents. Xanthene itself is an obscure compound, but many of its derivatives are u ...

(such as fluorescein and rhodamine), and cyanine dyes. Sulfonation makes DyLight dyes negatively charged and

hydrophilic A hydrophile is a molecule or other molecular entity that is attracted to water molecules and tends to be dissolved by water.Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. In contrast, hydrophobes are n ...

. DyLight Fluors are commercially available as reactive succinimidyl-esters for labeling proteins through

lysine Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. Lysine contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form when the lysine is dissolved in water at physiological pH), an α-carboxylic acid group ( ...

residues, and as maleimide derivatives for labeling proteins through

cysteine Cysteine (; symbol Cys or C) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the chemical formula, formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine enables the formation of Disulfide, disulfide bonds, and often participates in enzymatic reactions as ...

residues. Antibodies conjugated are also available from several companies.

Alternatives

Similar lines of fluorescent dyes provide an alternative to the DyLight Dyes (see also the list in :Fluorescent dyes).

References

{{reflist Dyes Fluorescent dyes