Monday, January 28, 2013

Strawberry DNA Extraction Experiment!






Students learned about DNA last week.  This week they got to extract DNA out of a strawberry.  They learned at all living things(plants and animals) have DNA.  They followed a step by step instruction sheet during this experiment.  The steps were as follows:
1. Maceration(mashing the strawberry in the bag into a liquid form)
2. Set up Filtration Equipment with a coffee filter, clear cup, and rubberband
3. Add Lysis Buffer (Mixture to be mixed beforehand that includes 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of Dawn, and 1 cup of water).  Mix again with the Lysis
4. Filtration(Separation) takes about 15 minutes to filter through the coffee filter into the cup
5. Precipitation-Add COLD rubbing alcohol to the mixture and the DNA/cells will begin to separate away from the mixture and clump
6. Collection-collect your DNA and store in a test tube!

TRY OTHER FRUITS and let me know how it goes.  You can try any fruit besides citrus fruits.  They are too acidic. Try berries, apples, pears, or peaches.

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