In various embodiments, the present invention provides fluorescent dyes that are linked to another species through an amino acid or peptide linker. In an exemplary embodiment, the dye is linked to a polyphosphate nucleic acid through an amino acid or peptide linker. These conjugates find use in single molecule DNA sequencing and other applications. In various embodiments, the dye moiety is a cyanine dye. Cyanine dyes that are highly charged, such as those including multiple sulfonate, alkylsulfonate, carboxylate and/or alkylcarboxylate moieties are examples of cyanine dyes of use in the compounds of the invention.