Wash-free RNA FISH Using a Photoresponsive Beacon Probe via Photochemical Crosslinking

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool to visualize nucleic acids in a sequence specific manner, although its sensitivity is dependent on wash procedures. In this study, we demonstrated wash-free RNA FISH using a photocrosslinkable beacon probe containing 3-cyanovinylcarbazole (K-CNV). The probe visualized the 16S rRNA in E. coli by photoirradiation without any wash procedure. Moreover, this probe has high affinity to the target strand and can successfully detect RNA with a secondary structure.