Hi!

First of all I have to say that SYBR Green is definitely not less toxic than EtBr, so you have to be as careful... (although the manufacturers claim that it is less carcinogenic) It is also free of the complex waste disposal issues of EtBr... It is the best to have separate places for staining the gels afterwards and not contaminating the electrophoresis tanks with it. We have a separate room for gel staining and taking pics, and in that room we also have separate contaminated and non-contaminated areas, and there are snipers waiting around the corners waiting to shoot people who disobey the rules:)))

There are several different types of SYBR Green dyes, SYBRGreen I is specific for dsDNA and I think almost ten times more sensitive than EtBr. SYBRGreen II is more selective for ssDNA and RNA, and although it also binds dsDNA, it has a way higher quantum yield with ss molecules, therefore it is really good for RNA gels, also you can detect much less quantities.

You do need to use a different transilluminator for it, we have this Dark Reader transilluminator which uses visible light to excite, therefore you don't need no worry about uv. It is also very useful for cutting bands for exactly the same reason:))

Two things you need to watch out for is that it does not penetrate as fast as EtBr, therefore you need to stain 30 mins to an hour. And, you need to prepare the dilution in TE buffer with ph 8, that way it is stable at 4 degrees for some weeks. If you prepare it in water, it will disintegrate within a day and if the ph is not 8, it will not stain properly:))

And yes, it is a bit more expensive than EtBr but you also need less of it and it is more stable, therefore I would go for it:)) The results you get are especially way better with RNA and small amounts of PCR prods.

Hope this helps!

Happy weekend,

Basak