James Kling | Apr 13, 1997 | 9 min read
There is a war going on to win over the hearts and minds of molecular biologists: Radioactive isotopes-long the gold standard for tagging and later detecting RNA and DNA strands- are being challenged by a new generation of fluorescent labels that promise greater flexibility with fewer disposal problems. SEQUENCE DETECTION SYSTEM: Perkin-Elmer’s ABI Prism 7700 system uses a probe with a reporter and a quencher dye attached to it. With 14C, 32P, 125I, 3H, or some other radioactive atom bui