| abstract |
Nucleic acids may be labeled by intercalating the alkylating intercalation moiety of a labeling reagent into a partially double-stranded nucleic acid to form a complex and activating the complex to cause covalent bonding between the reagent and the nucleic acid. Preferably, the labeled nucleic acid is a hybridization probe for detecting nucleic acid sequences capable of hybridizing with a hybridizing region of the nucleic acid. Also preferably the label moiety is non-radioactive. The labeling reagent is of the formula: [A-[B-L where A is an alkylating intercalation moiety, B is a divalent organic moiety of the formula: <IMAGE> where Y is O, NH or N-CHO, x is a number from 1 to 4, y is a number from 2 to 4, and L is a monovalent label moiety, wherein B is exclusive of any portion of the intercalation and label moieties. Preferably A is a 4-methylene-substituted psoralen moiety, and most preferably A is a 4'-methylene-substituted-4,5', 8-trimethylpsoralen moiety and L is biotin. This patent application is a divisional application of copending U.S. Ser. No. 791,332 filed Oct. 25, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,261, which is a continuation-in-part application (CIP) of copending U.S. Ser. No. 683,263 filed Dec. 18, 1984, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,789 which is a CIP of copending U.S. Ser. No. 591,811 filed Mar. 21, 1984, now abandoned. This patent application is also related to copending U.S. application Ser. No. 791,323 filed Oct. 25, 1985. |