Recent advances have facilitated the real-time monitoring of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by the inclusion of fluorescent labels, such as SYBR Green I (FMC BioProducts, Rockland, ME, USA), and have triggered the widespread use of quantitative PCR of cDNA targets (5–7). Nevertheless, because SYBR Green I binds nonspecifically to double-stranded (ds)DNA, it is essential to assess the specific...

Five nucleic acid binding cyanine dyes were synthesized and their photophysical characteristics evaluated. Changing a heteroatom in the chromophore caused major differences properties between improving upon available commercial products.

BACKGROUND Mycobacteria have a spectrum of virulence and different susceptibilities to antibiotics. Distinguishing mycobacterial species is vital as patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections present clinical features that are similar to those of patients with tuberculosis. Thus, rapid differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from NTM is critical to administer app...

The Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office (PBSO) Crime Laboratory and the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (ADFS) have validated and implemented analysis of short tandem repeat (STR) sequences on casework using silver staining kit and SYBR Green I detection systems and are presently validating fluorescently tagged STR alleles using the Hitachi FMBIO 100 instrument. Concurrently, the Broward ...