Tags: Chemical Compound, Chemical Substance.
Acridine orange is a nucleic acid selective fluorescent cationic dye useful for cell cycle determination. It is cell-permeable and interacts with DNA and RNA by intercalation or electrostatic attractions respectively. When bound to DNA it is very similar spectrally to fluorescein with an excitation maximum at 502 nm and an emission maximum at 525 nm (green). When it associates with RNA the excitation maximum shifts to 460 nm (blue) and the emission maximum shifts to 650 nm (red).
