Epicocconone


Epicocconone is long Stokes' shift fluorescent dye found in the fungus Epicoccum nigrum. Though weakly fluorescent in water it reacts reversibly with proteins to yield a product with a strong orange-red emission. This dye can be used as a sensitive total protein stain for 1D and 2D electrophoresis, quantitative determination of protein concentration, making it a powerful loading control for Western blots.

Synthetic variant

In addition to the natural variant from the fungus, there are several synthetic analogs. With respect to protein staining properties there are few differences between natural and synthetic analogs.