BactoView™ Dead Stains

BactoView™ Dead Stains are novel DNA binding dyes for live/dead discrimination in bacteria. These bright fluorogenic DNA binding dyes are cell membrane-impermeant, so they selectively stain dead bacteria with compromised cell membranes without the need to wash after staining.

 Highly-selective dead cell stains for bacteria cultures
 Compatible with both gram-positive and gram-negative strains
 Quick 30-minute staining, no wash required
 Available in 7 colors from green to near-IR

Highly-Selective Dead Cell Staining for Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Strains

Traditional vital nucleic acid dyes like propidium iodide or ethidium homodimer are efficiently excluded from live gram-negative bacteria but are taken up by live gram-positive bacteria, resulting in high background in live cells and poor live/dead discrimination. BactoView™ Dead Stains have novel chemical structures that are efficiently excluded from both gram-positive and gram-negative strains, for highly selective live/dead discrimination. In addition to staining dead bacteria, BactoView™ Dead Stains also stain Bacillus subtilis endospores, but with dimmer fluorescence. BactoView™ Dead Stains have low fluorescence until they bind DNA, allowing bright, no-wash staining. The stains are available with a wide selection of emission wavelengths ranging from green to near-infrared, for microscopy or flow cytometry analysis.

BactoView™ Dead Stains & Viability Kits

Texas Red is a registered trademark of Thermo Fisher Scientific; Cy Dye is a registered trademark of Cytiva.

Staining of Gram-Positive B. Subtilis

Untreated or heat-killed B. subtilis were stained with 1X BactoView™ Dead dye in PBS for 30 minutes at room temperature, then imaged by confocal microscopy without a wash step. BactoView™ Live Green panels (far right) are representative of the typical cell densities of untreated and heat-killed B. subtilis samples. Scale bars: 20 um.

BactoView™ Dead Also Stains B. Subtilis Endospores

B. subtilis were cultured in Difco sporulation medium (DSM) for 7 days to induce endospore formation. Spore cultures were washed in PBS and stained with 1X BactoView™ Dead stains in PBS for 30 minutes at room temperature, then imaged by confocal microscopy without a wash step. Scale bars: 20 um.

Biotium also offers BactoView™ Viability Kits, which include a choice of red or far-red BactoView™ Dead Stain for dead bacteria and BactoView™ Viability Green Counterstain to stain all bacteria. BactoView™ Dead Stains also can be combined with fluorescent Gram stains like our CF® Dye WGA Conjugates.

We also offer BactoView™ Live Green and BactoView™ Live Red for staining live bacteria. Note that BactoView™ Stains cannot be used to distinguish bacteria from eukaryotic cells, because they will stain other cell types as well. For staining mammalian cells, see our NucSpot® Nuclear Stains for live/dead discrimination or nuclear counterstaining of fixed mammalian cells. For live nuclear staining of mammalian cells, see our NucSpot® Live Stains.