DNA Extraction Lab

Today we had a very exciting lab, unlike the other ones we did before. In this one, the samples we were analysing came directly from us, not any other specimen our teacher, Ms. Macedo, picked out for us. Our first step to gathering DNA was to mix 50ml of water with one teaspoon of salt, and then one of the partners in each group gargled that mixture for a minute. While one partner did that, the other added 5ml of dish detergent to a test tube. The gargled mixture is then added to that textube, and then lightly shaken until combined. This action breaks open the cell membrane of the cell in which the DNA sample resides.

Then, in another beaker, we mixed 20ml of chilled ethanol and 1-3 drops of food coloring. In me and Pablo (my lab partner)'s case, we used green. We then gathered 5ml of that green substance, and added it to our detergent/gargle mixture. The ethanol causes something called cell precipitating, which is an action that purifies the DNA. We then added all the liquid into the beaker containing the food coloring and ethanol. This is forces the precipitation of nucleic acid out of the solution, so that after one minute of letting it sit still, we could see the long, white strand of DNA, straight from our cheeks.

This was a fun experiment, and if youre hoping to understand some more about the basic component that makes up and keeps us alive, DNA, you should give it a try!