Digoxigenin-UTP, alkali-stable

Digoxigenin-UTP can replace UTP in reactions catalyzed by T3, T7 or SP6 RNA polymerases. The digoxigenin-labeled RNA transcripts produced by these reactions are suitable for a wide range of applications such as nucleic acid hybridization, sequencing, and genome analysis. The transcription reaction produces multiple RNA copies of the DNA template(s) during a short incubation period. RNA probes offer higher target specificity and greater sensitivity than the corresponding DNA-DNA hybrids. The single-stranded RNA probes offer selectivity unavailable with double-stranded DNA probes, because they are strand-specific. Furthermore, RNA probes hybridize much more efficiently to target molecules than DNA probes because there is no self-hybridization. The hybridized digoxigenin-labeled DNA probes can be detected by their interaction with antibodies coupled to fluorescent dyes or color-producing enzymes.