How sensitive is the Typhoon system?
A. Molecular Dynamics do not currently provide sensitivity data. Considering the Fluoroimager system, one femtomole of a DNA 24-mer, end-labeled with fluorescein in a 1mm thick 10% acrylamide gel, scanned in high sensitivity mode produces a signal three times greater than background. Smaller quantities are visible on the scanned image but do not always meet the three-times-background detection criterion. Intercalating dyes such as ethidium bromide and Vistra Green typically offer lower limits of detection than those that are achieved with fluorescein end-labeling because there are more dye molecules associated with each DNA molecule.
