Patent ID: 8663935

Claim:
A composition comprising: (a) a first ligand conjugated to a first tandem dye, said first tandem dye comprising: (i) a first phycobiliprotein component comprising two or more linked subunits, said two or more linked subunits including covalently bonded crosslinked and non-crosslinked subunits, wherein said first phycobiliprotein component is derived from a first bacterial species or first eukaryotic algae species; and (ii) a first partner dye conjugated to said first phycobiliprotein, wherein said first partner dye is a non-phycobiliprotein dye; and (b) a second phycobiliprotein component comprising two or more linked subunits, said two or more linked subunits including non-crosslinked subunits, wherein said second phycobiliprotein component is derived from said first bacterial species or said first eukaryotic algae species, and wherein said second phycobiliprotein component is not conjugated to a non-phycobiliprotein dye; wherein said second phycobiliprotein component and said first phycobiliprotein component are the same; or said second phycobiliprotein component and said first phycobiliprotein component are different, and wherein a subunit exchange occurs between said non-crosslinked subunits of said second phycobiliprotein component with said non-crosslinked subunits of said first phycobiliprotein component.