Biotium PMA Dye - high affinity photoreactive DNA binding dye

PMA™ (propidium monoazide) is a high affinity photoreactive DNA binding dye invented by scientists at Biotium. The dye is weakly fluorescent by itself but becomes more fluorescent after binding to nucleic acids. It preferentially binds to dsDNA with high affinity. Upon photolysis, the photoreactive azido group on the dye is converted to a highly reactive nitrene radical, which readily reacts with any hydrocarbon moiety at the binding site to form a stable covalent nitrogen-carbon bond, thus resulting in permanent DNA modification. The dye is nearly completely cell membrane-impermeable, and thus can be selectively used to modify only exposed DNA from dead cells while leaving DNA from viable cells intact. This feature makes the dye highly useful in the selective detection of viable pathogenic cells by quantitative real-time PCR in the presence dead cells whose DNA has been PMA-modified and thus can not be amplified. Since Biotium first developed PMA dye, there have been numerous publications on the use of the dye in pathogenic bacterial detection related to food and water safety, medical diagnosis and biodefense; download the PMA Reference List below. Please also see PMA dye in H₂O , a convenient ready-to-use format.

For viability PCR of gram-negative bacteria we highly recommend using Biotium’s new PMA Enhancer in conjunction with PMA. PMA Enhancer for Gram Negative Bacteria was designed to improve PMA-mediated discrimination between live and dead gram-negative bacteria. When a sequence from a gram-negative bacteria is amplified by PCR, samples pre-treated with Enhancer show a decrease in the signal from dead cells, with no change in the signal from live cells.

Biotium also provides strain-specific PMA Real-Time PCR Bacterial Viability kits with validated primers for 5 selected pathogens: M. tuberculosis, S. aureus, MRSA, Salmonella, and E. coli O157:H7. These kits provide everything that you need for the selective detection of your favorite species of live bacteria by real-time PCR.

For photoactivation of PMA or EMA dye, we recommend the use of Biotium’s PMA-Lite LED Photolysis Device , which is designed to conduct photolysis under controlled conditions.

Fig 1. Principal of selective detection of live cells using PMA dye.

Properties

Molecular weight: 511
Abs = 464 nm (before photolysis)
Abs/Em = 510/610 nm (following photolysis and covalent attachment to DNA/RNA)
Dark red solid soluble in DMSO or DMF
Store at 4°C and protect from light at all times

Downloads

Ordering

Cat# 40013	1 mg