Figure 2.

Detection of mRNA with the help of molecular beacons. (a) Molecular beacons MB1–MB4 were incubated with or without 100 µg of purified total RNA, the resulting fluorescence was recorded at 518 nm, and plotted as the ratio of the data obtained under the two conditions (+ RNA/– RNA). (b) Molecular beacons MB3 or MB4 were incubated with or without 100 µg of purified RNA and the fluorescence emission spectra were recorded. Only MB3 in the presence of RNA (solid line) exhibited a signal above background. The three other spectra were basically identical (three dotted lines: MB3 – RNA, MB4 ± RNA). (c) Molecular beacon MB3 was incubated with increasing concentrations of purified total RNA and the resulting fluorescence was recorded at 518 nm.