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#EdU assay

2 public questions tagged with this topic.

An advantage of EdU assay is:

Predominant advantage of EdU assay over BrdU is preservation of cellular architecture because it avoids harsh DNA denaturation. BrdU detection requires unwinding double helix using strong acid, heat, or enzymatic digestion to expose concealed bromo-deoxyuridine epitope for anti-BrdU antibody of large size 150 kDa that cannot access double-stranded DNA. These treatments hydrolyze fluorescent proteins such as GFP, destroy conformational epitopes of surface antigens CD markers, fragment histology, alter light scatter properties in flow cytometry, and distort cell cycle distributions. EdU click de

Ref: Buck et al Biotechniques 2008 EdU advantage no denaturation preserves antigens; Thermo Fisher Click-iT EdU vs BrdU no DNA denaturation needed.

EdU assay differs from BrdU assay because it:

EdU, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine, retains Watson-Crick pairing but bears terminal alkyne at 5 position instead of bromine. Detection utilizes bioorthogonal click chemistry specifically copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition first described by Sharpless. In this reaction, alkyne on EdU incorporated into DNA reacts with fluorescent azide forming stable 1,2,3-triazole covalent linkage, catalyzed by CuSO4 reduced to Cu(I) by sodium ascorbate, proceeding rapidly in aqueous buffer at room temperature with exquisite specificity. Because fluorescent azide small molecule penetrates duplex DNA, ha

Ref: Salic A & Mitchison TJ PNAS 2008 EdU click chemistry; Kolb et al Click chemistry concept Nobel Prize 2022 CuAAC azide-alkyne.