Ready-to-use 1% agarose/TAE gels precast with GelRed® Nucleic Acid Gel Stain. The gels are suitable for visualizing 250-12,000 bp DNA fragments.
Precast GelRed® Agarose Gels are ready-to-use gels intended for DNA gel electrophoresis. The 1% agarose gels were cast in TAE buffer and contain highly sensitive GelRed® Nucleic Acid Gel Stain, saving a significant amount of time by eliminating the need for casting gels.
Biotium offers 1X TAE (1 L) Buffer Powder Packets (Cat. No. 22031) that are suitable for use with Precast GelRed® Agarose TAE Gels.
Biotium's Ready-to-Use 1 kb DNA Ladder (31022A) was separated on a Precast GelRed Agarose Gel (1% Agarose TAE) in 1X TAE buffer for 60 minutes at 100 V. Loading amounts are indicated above the lanes and ladder band sizes are shown to the left. The gel was imaged on the UVP GelDoc-It gel imaging system with a UV transilluminator and EtBr filter.
GelRed® and ethidium bromide (EtBr) have very similar excitation and emission wavelengths, so you can directly replace EtBr with GelRed® without changing your existing imaging system. In addition, GelRed® is far more sensitive than EtBr. Staining nucleic acids with GelRed® is compatible with downstream applications such as sequencing and cloning. GelRed® can be removed from DNA using a gel extraction kit, or by phenol/chloroform extraction followed by ethanol precipitation. To learn more, learn more about GelRed® or read our GelRed® FAQs.
GelRed® was subjected to a series of tests at Biotium and by three independent testing services to assess the dye’s safety for routine handling and disposal. Test results confirm that the dye is impenetrable to both latex gloves and cell membranes. The dye is non-cytotoxic and non-mutagenic at concentrations well above the working concentrations used in gel staining. GelRed® successfully passed environmental safety tests in compliance with CCR Title 22 Hazardous Waste Characterization, under which GelRed® is classified as non-hazardous waste. See the GelRed® and GelGreen® Safety Report.
See the table below for a detailed comparison of available GelRed® and GelGreen® formats. Choose the Right Stain for Your Application:
Product / Method | Procedure | Advantages | Disadvantages | Recommended for |
---|---|---|---|---|
DNA staining with Precast GelRed® Agarose Gels | Load samples and run the precast gel that is prestained with GelRed® | • Saves time by eliminating the need for casting gels • Safer handling by eliminating the need to handle concentrated dye |
• Gels are precast in 1% agarose and are only suitable for visualizing 250-12,000 bp DNA fragments • Gels have a fixed amount of 8 wells per gel • Not suitable for PAGE, DGGE, EMSA, or PFGE gels • Dye may cause band migration issues when loading larger amounts of DNA (more than ~100 ng/band), or for some restriction digests |
• Routine agarose gels • Recommended loading 50-200 ng ladder or 2-5 uL PCR product (~100 ng/band or less) |
DNA prestaining with GelRed® Prestain Plus 6X DNA Loading Dye | GelRed® loading buffer is added directly to the DNA sample before loading | • Fast & simple: one-step sample loading & DNA staining • Less concentrated dye for safer handling • Can re-run a gel to use empty lanes |
• Not recommended for PAGE, DGGE, EMSA, or PFGE gels • Dye may cause band migration issues when loading larger amounts of DNA (more than ~100 ng/band), or for some restriction digests |
• Routine agarose gels • Recommended loading 50-200 ng ladder or 2-5 uL PCR product (~100 ng/band or less) |
Precast staining with GelRed® 10,000X in water or GelGreen® 10,000X in water | GelRed® or GelGreen® is mixed with molten agarose before gel casting | • Familiar protocol rapid results | • Not applicable | • Not applicable |
Precast staining with GelRed® Agarose LE or GelGreen® Agarose LE | Agarose is supplied pre-coated with GelRed® or GelGreen®, just dissolve, heat, and pour | • Safer & more convenient, no need to handle concentrated dye | • Not applicable | • Not applicable |
Post-electrophoresis staining with GelRed® 10,000X in water or GelGreen® 10,000X in water - or - GelRed® 3X in water | No fluorescent dye is added to the gel, it is stained in 3X GelRed® or 3X GelGreen® solution after electrophoresis | • Most accurate sizing/sharpest bands • Staining solution can be re-used • Enhance sensitivity by adding NaCl |
• Extra staining step (up to 30 minutes) after electrophoresis (some customers report good results after only 5 minutes if dye is not reused) | • Gels with more than ~100 ng DNA per band • Analyzing restriction digests |
Post-electrophoresis staining of PAGE gels using PAGE GelRed® 10,000X or 1X in water | No fluorescent dye is added to the gel, it is stained in 1X PAGE GelRed® solution after electrophoresis | • Formulated for efficient penetration and staining of polyacrylamide gels • Like the classic GelRed®, it is safe and environmentally friendly |
• Extra staining step of approx. 30 minutes after electrophoresis | • Staining of nucleic acids in PAGE gels |
Read selected publications using GelRed® and GelGreen® in selected applications.