Antibodies Conjugated to Fluorophores

Antibodies Conjugated to Fluorochromes

Quick Guide: Antibodies Conjugated to Fluorophores

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Bio-Rad offers a wide range of antibodies conjugated to all of the most commonly used fluorescent dyes and to our new proprietary StarBright Dyes, bright dyes specifically designed for flow cytometry.

We also offer Alexa Fluor and DyLight conjugates in an array of colors, both with outstanding spectral properties, suitable for use in flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and fluorescent western blotting.

If the labeled version you need is not available, you can use our easy-to-use LYNX Rapid Conjugation Kits for many popular dyes and tandem conjugates, and Readilink Antibody Conjugation Kits for flow cytometry optimized fluorophores.

Fluorophores for Flow Cytometry

Not all fluorophores are suitable for every antibody based application. For example, even though PE is bright, it is easily bleached and therefore is not suitable for fluorescence imaging.

Due to the increase in the size of flow cytometry panels, conventional flow cytometry requires bright fluorophores that have a specific excitation and emission wavelength from one laser. Spectral flow cytometry however requires unique spectral profiles to allow unmixing in panels. These fluorophores must be compatible with each other in the panel and ideally should be photostable and show no loss of fluorescence when fixed.

Visit our Flow Cytometry Fluorophores Page for more detailed information on flow cytometry compatible fluorophores, including our new proprietary StarBright Dyes.


Single Dyes 

Fluorophore Fluorescence Color Maximum 
Absorbance (nm)
Maximum 
Emission (nm)
Relative
Brightness
Spectrally Similar Dyes
StarBright UltraViolet 400   347 394 3 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 395
DyLight 405   400 420 3 Alexa Fluor 405, Cascade Blue
StarBright Violet 440   383 436 5 Pacific Blue, Super Bright 436, eFluor 450
StarBright UltraViolet 445   335 440 3 DyLight350
Pacific Blue   401 452 1  
StarBright Violet 475   405 479 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 480
StarBright UltraViolet 510   340 513 3 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 496
StarBright Violet 515   405 516 5 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 510
DyLight 488   493 518 4 Alexa Fluor 488, FITC
Alexa Fluor 488   495 519 3 Cy2, DyLight 488, FITC
FITC   490 525 3 Alexa Fluor 488, Cy2, DyLight 488, BD Horizon Brilliant Blue 515
Amethyst Orange   405 540 1 Pacific Orange
StarBright UltraViolet 575   340 569 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 563
StarBright Violet 570    402 571 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 570
DyLight 550 562 576 4 PE
PE   496/546 578 5 DyLight 550
hFab Rhodamine*   530 580 3  
StarBright Violet 610   402 607 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 605, Super Bright 600
StarBright UltraViolet 605   340 609 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 615
Texas Red   596 615 2  
APC   650 661 4 Alexa Fluor 647, Cy5
Alexa Fluor 647   650 665 4 APC, Cy5, DyLight 650
StarBright Violet 670   401 667 5 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 650, Super Bright 645
Cy5   649 670 3  
DyLight 650   654 673 4 Alexa Fluor 647, Cy5
PerCP   490 675 2  
StarBright UltraViolet 665   340 669 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 661
StarBright Blue 700   470 705 5 PerCP-Cy5.5, BD Horizon Brilliant Blue 700
DyLight 680 Infrared 692 712 3 Alexa Fluor 680, Cy5.5
StarBright Violet 710 Infrared 402 713 5 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 711, Super Bright 702
Alexa Fluor 700 Infrared 702 723 2  
StarBright UltraViolet 740 Infrared 343 743 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 737
StarBright Violet 760 Infrared 403 754 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 750
DyLight 755   752 778 4 Alexa Fluor750
StarBright Violet 790 Infrared 402 782 4 BD Horizon Brilliant Violet 785, SB780
StarBright UltraViolet 795 Infrared 340 792 2 BD Horizon Brilliant Ultraviolet 805
DyLight 800* Infrared 777 794 4 IR Dye 800

* Western blot tested

Abbreviations: APC; allophycocyanin, FITC; fluorescein isothiocyanate, PE; phycoerythrin (Note. phycoerythrin (PE) is the same as R-phycoerythrin (RPE)), PerCP; peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex.


Tandem Dyes for Flow Cytometry

When designing panels of eight or more colors, tandem dyes, such as APC-Cy7, have to be included. This is due to both laser excitation and single fluorophore limitations, which make it necessary for a single laser to excite the maximum number of fluorophores possible. 

Tandem dyes, as the name implies, consist of two different covalently attached fluorophores (a donor and an acceptor molecule). With regards to spectral properties, the tandem dye has the excitation characteristics of the donor fluorophores and the emission characteristics of the acceptor molecule. These properties are due to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET; also known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer); a process in which energy is passed on from an excited donor to a nearby acceptor molecule, which then emits a photon of light.

For tandem dyes the following guidelines should be followed:

  • Tandem dyes are highly susceptible to photobleaching and therefore need to be protected from light at all times
  • Tandem dye antibody conjugates should never be frozen. Freezing might result in denaturing of the donor fluorophores and thereby no or reduced staining
  • The brightness of tandem dyes might be reduced by a fixation or permeabilization step. If fixation or permeabilization is required, the duration should be as short as possible
  • Tandem dyes have a high batch-to-batch variation and therefore each batch has to be re-optimized. Tandem dyes are highly variable between different suppliers
Fluorophore Fluorescence Color Maximum Excitation (nm) Maximum Emission (nm)
Relative
Brightness
Spectrally Similar Dyes
PE-Alexa Fluor 647   496, 546 667 4  
PE-Cy5   496, 546 667 5  
PE-Cy5.5   496, 546 695 4  
PE-Alexa Fluor 700 Infrared 496, 546 723 2 PE-Cy5, PerCP
PE-Alexa Fluor 750 Infrared 496, 546 779 4 PE-Cy7
APC-Alexa Fluor 750 Infrared 650 779 4 APC-Cy7, DyLight 750
PE-Cy7 Infrared 496, 546 785 4 PE-Alexa Fluor 750
APC-Cy7 Infrared 650 785 2  

Abbreviations: APC; allophycocyanin, FITC; fluorescein isothiocyanate, PE; phycoerythrin (Note. phycoerythrin (PE) is the same as R-phycoerythrin (RPE)), PerCP; peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex.


Relative Brightness

Although some fluorophores may have similar excitation and emission wavelengths, their relative brightness may be different. Fluorophore brightness depends on how many photons a fluorophore emits when being excited by a laser, as well as the conversion rate of those photons when they hit the detectors and are converted into electrons. The relative brightness can be an important factor in flow cytometry to obtain good signal resolution. If an antigen is highly abundant, most fluorophores can be used, however low abundance antigens and rare cell populations will require bright fluorophores to achieve sufficient separation from the negative population. When building larger panels, good separation will improve the analysis of your data and may allow you some leeway in your fluorophore choices. The graphs below show how fluorophore brightness can affect the appearance of flow cytometry data.

  Laser line Maximum excitation (nm) Maximum emission (nm) Filter Relative brightness
405 410 455 460/22 1
640 702 723 720/60 2
488 490 525 525/35 3
640 650 665 670/30 4
561 546 578 577/15 5

Fig. 1. Fluorophore relative brightness. Examples of staining showing the relative brightness of common fluorophores on the same cell population. Data collected on the ZE5 Cell Analyzer.

Many factors will affect the appearance of data. This can be the flow cytometer, filters and laser used to excite the fluorophore, the laser power and instrument settings as well as the type of plot chosen. Other examples include the sample used, antibody clone, the F:P ratio and staining protocol. Finally, remember that each fluorophore will influence another in a multicolor panel so compensation and fluorescence spread should be considered when choosing a fluorophore.

For more information about fluorophores and immunophenotyping, refer to our flow cytometry resources.

Click on the links below to find more in-depth information on each topic and view our popular flow cytometry basics guide

Flow Cytometry Resources