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SYBR Gold is an asymmetrical cyanine dye. It can be used as a stain for double-stranded DNA, single-stranded DNA, and RNA. SYBR Gold is the most sensitive fluorescent stain of the SYBR family of dyes for the detection of nucleic acids. The SYBR family of dyes is produced by Molecular Probes Inc., now owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific
SYBR Gold is more sensitive than ethidium bromide, SYBR Green I, and SYBR Green II for detecting various types of nucleic acids. SYBR Gold's superior sensitivity is due to the high fluorescence quantum yield of the dye-nucleic acid complexes and the dye's large fluorescence enhancement upon binding to nucleic acids. SYBR Gold can detect as little as 25 pg of DNA which makes it >10-fold more sensitive than ethidium bromide for detecting nucleic acids in denaturing urea, gyoxal, and formaldehyde gels, even with 300 nm transillumination.