|Courtesy of BioCrystal Ltd.|
Not long ago, the options available to scientists for labeling nucleic acids were severely limited. Not only were researchers restricted to working with radioisotopes, but they also had to be satisfied with being able to address only the most basic questions about gene expression and localization. The development of innovative new technologies and highly specific, nonradioactive labels has changed all of that. In addition to such tried-and-true methods as Northern and Southern blotting, it is possible to label DNA in living cells via in situ hybridization in order to obtain detailed information about the spatial and temporal aspects of gene expression, and to label cDNA with multiple tags for microarray analysis. Countless other applications exist as well. This article offers a sampling of nucleic acid...
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