Purpose: Hello! This was one of our favorite labs because we all love strawberries a whole lot. The purpose of this experiment was to see if there was a way to extract a strand of DNA from one whole fresh strawberry.
Introduction: DNA is found in all living organisms and in this lab our goal was to extract a strand/fibers of DNA from the strawberry.
Methods: First we mashed up the strawberry in a ziplock bag in order to make the DNA more extractable. Then we mixed the mashed up strawberries with the extraction buffer (the soapy water mix). After letting the mixture soak through a coffee filter into a graduated cylinder, we collected the liquid after a few minutes. We then added a few drops of ice cold alcohol to the strawberry and soapy water solution. We made sure to let the alcohol drip down the side of the graduated cylinder instead of dropping it straight in. After a minute or two a white cloudy layer appeared. This was the DNA! After stirring the pipet in the mixture, the DNA climbers could be pulled out and examined.
Discussion: Our results from this lab successfully proved this lab true. DNA could be successfully extracted from a strawberry as long as we followed the correct steps, which we eventually did. The only thing that went wrong was our first attempt at the lab. We first mixed the mashed up strawberry with the ice cold alcohol to find nothing so we knew then that we had to approach the lab differently. Eventually we figured it out and successfully extracted the DNA from the strawberry. If we were to improve our tactics and techniques in this experiment, we would have not first mixed the alcohol with the strawberry solution. The results of our experiment proved that DNA fibers/strands are found in strawberries.
Conclusion: To conclude this experiment, DNA can be extracted from raw strawberries as long as it is mixed with an extraction buffer, filtered through a coffee filter and mixed with alcohol. Our results from our lab support this conclusion.
References:
DNA Extraction From Straberries (Schoology)
Pictures
The mashed up strawberries!!!
Extracting the DNA (feat. Mr. Filipek) !!!
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