there are unquenched TO intercalators in the assemblies. The centrosomes are clearly evident as bright foci, however some background fluorescence is present in Lexacalcitol the TO channel even after utilizing a zwitterionic buffer (0.5M PIPES/0.5M HEPES) to minimize nonspecific binding of the oligonucleotides.43 The excess background fluorescence could be due to (= 30-35 centrosomes per embryo) (Figure 8A). any color in the visible and near-IR region and a variety of orthogonal labeling strategies that permit imaging of multiple targets simultaneously.1,2 Both chemical approaches to fluorescence labeling (e.g. dye-conjugated antibodies) and biological fusion constructs based on inherently fluorescent proteins such as green fluorescent protein or other tags that can recognize dyes have enabled cell biologists to develop increasingly detailed understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns of molecular interactions occurring within cells and/or on cell surfaces. While fluorescence technologies provide a palette of colors and labeling strategies, an area where there is still room for improvement is in the brightness of the labels. For stoichiometric labels such as fusion proteins, a single dye is attached to the protein of interest. If the protein is expressed in low amounts or is not strongly localized to a specific region, the resulting signal might not be sufficiently bright to detect, particularly in the complex environment of a cell. The brightest fluorescent labels typically exhibit extraordinarily high molar extinction coefficients (). This includes semiconductor nanocrystals (i.e. quantum dots),3 inorganic4,5 and polymeric6,7 nanoparticles and phycobiliproteins8. These materials have found uses in certain labeling and detection applications. Nevertheless, one challenge that remains in adapting these high materials more broadly is installing surface chemistry that allows single-point attachment to molecules of Lexacalcitol interest. In prior work, Lexacalcitol we created a new class of fluorescent labeling reagents based on DNA nanostructures and fluorogenic intercalating dyes.9,10 DNA can readily be Lexacalcitol designed to form 1-D, 2-D or 3-D nanostructures and intercalating dyes can insert into the helix at high densities, up to 1 1 fluorophore per two base pairs (Figure 1, top). Intercalating dyes of many fluorescence colors are commercially available as is DNA bearing a variety of end group modifications that can be used to attach the DNA to various surfaces or other molecules. Thus, a noncovalent can be assembled from readily available materials and can be easily applied to labeling of biomolecules via standard conjugation chemistries. Open in a separate window Figure 1 Schematic of noncovalent (top) and covalent (bottom) fluorescent DNA nanotags. A simple linear nanotag is shown, but multidimensional versions are Lexacalcitol readily assembled. While assembly of noncovalent nanotags is facile, the lack of a stable linkage between the dye and the DNA template allows the fluorophore to dissociate from the DNA, leading to weaker fluorescence from the labeled molecule and, potentially unintended fluorescence from other molecules. For example, we observed that a noncovalent nanotag targeted to a cell-surface protein gave the intended peripheral fluorescence surrounding the cell, but also strong intracellular fluorescence from other cells.9 This was due to dissociation of the dye from the nanotag, uptake into (presumably dead) cells and staining of nucleic acids within those cells. In order to enhance the utility of this class of fluorescent labels, we sought to develop covalent versions of our nanotags based on a robust click reaction.11 In addition to providing stable conjugates between DNA and intercalating dyes, the resulting constructs have been attached EMR2 to antibodies and used to stain intracellular proteins. Efficient F?rster resonance energy transfer in these tags allows wavelength shifting of the emission to minimize background fluorescence. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES General Materials and Methods Reagents for the synthesis of thiazole orange azides were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and Alfa-Aesar (USA). Solvents were HPLC.