In molecular biology, any biochemical which is labeled or linked in a way, which could be used to identify DNA, RNA or any amino acid sequence is called as probe.
DNA and RNA probes are labeled either radioactively or by biotin ordigoxigenin (these are most commonly used). Similarly, antibodies are labeled to identify proteins.DNA and RNA probes are specific, single stranded and complementary to the sequence which they are supposed to identify.
Probes are used in diagnosis of diseases (like cancer, ELISA which requires protein probe, diseases caused by mutation etc.), in isolation of sequences from gene libraries etc., forensic science as in DNA fingerprinting, DNA microarray, could be used in inhibiting any gene and study its effect as in antisense and gene knockout technique. The use of probe in the realm of molecular biology could be much diverse than it is today and is very powerful tool for many researchers in this field.
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Probes
