FAQ

Biosearch Technologies does not offer VIC™, NED or PET dyes as they are proprietary to Applied Biosystems, Inc. (part of Life Technologies). These dyes are often used for sequencing or fragment analysis, but other long-wavelength dyes do not perform well in fragment analyzers, such as the ABI 3730 series.  These types of instruments use a single wavelength (488 nm) for excitation which poorly excites red-shifted dyes. Applied Biosystems circumvents this problem by partnering red dyes such as NED with a FAM dye in a FRET construct. Biosearch Technologies does not offer these “Big Dye” constructs and so we advise testing our dyes on an experimental basis for fragment analysis.

For qPCR applications we do not offer direct replacements for NED or PET dyes, however, we do offer alternatives for VIC.  Our recommended VIC substitute depends on the optics of your qPCR machine which can be determined on our Multiplexing Dye Recommendations Chart.