Tinto Rang - New Nucleic Acid Stain from India.
Q. Tingo rang is related to field of- Published on 04 Mar 16a. Micro biology
b. Sports
c. Food
d. Biofuel
ANSWER: Micro biology
- From crop improvement and food testing to forensic applications, carcinogenic and toxic nucleic acid, stains are something biologists and genome experts have been using for long, notwithstanding concerns over the effects of exposure to these stains.
- The most commonly and widely used stain (ethidium bromide nucleic acid stain) is a potent carcinogenic, mutagenic bio hazard and scientists in a lab deal with carcinogenic and mutagenic strains all the time to run their DNA tests.
- Their basic use is to impart colour to tissues or cells and they also facilitate microscopic study and identification, important for researchers.
- Indian Institute of Science's (IISc) J Fathima Benazir has developed a stain - Tinto Rang - is safe even on consumption as per her. Tinto (crimson red in Portuguese language which the colour of the strain) Rang is an Indian product from the Indian Institute of Science.
- Tinto rang stains DNA within a few seconds or at best a minute. It is developed from edible plants found in South India.
- She has launched it from her firm Azooka Life Sciences, which is an incubation supported by the institute's Society for Innovation and Development.
- The focus of Azooka is to develop safe DNA/RNA fluorescent stains for applications in biological sciences and genomics and tinto tang is safe even on consumption as it is a food additive making it the safest option currently available in the world.
- The basic requirement of stains was that the nucleic acid dye has to be fast, sensitive and selective to the nucleic acid so that it can be used in various applications to detect minute quantity of nucleic acids in a biological sample.
- It is not photosensitive unlike EtBr and therefore does not require incubation in dark.
- The production and easy availability of a safe nucleic acid stain in India will have direct impact on the cost of molecular diagnostics, by eliminating import and excise duties.
