1. Is DNA in your food or just in you?
DNA, DNA, DNA!!!
Is DNA in your food or just in you?

2. Berry, Berry-DNA Extraction
Purpose: To extract DNA from strawberries using household materials.

3. The preparation of DNA from any cell type involves a few steps…
-Breaking open the cell to release the cell contents
-Removing proteins and other cell debris from the nucleic acid
-Purifying the DNA sample

4. Why strawberries?
Ripe strawberries are an excellent source for extracting DNA because they are easy to pulverize and contain enzymes called pectinases and cellulases that help break down cell walls. Most importantly, strawberries have eight copies of each chromosome (they are octoploid), so there is a lot of DNA to isolate!

5. What will be utilized for isolation?
Shampoo or dishwasher soap helps to dissolve the cell membrane, which is a lipid bilayer.
Sodium chloride helps to remove proteins that are bound to the DNA and neutralizes the charge repulsion that occurs between DNA strands. It also helps to keep the proteins dissolved in the aqueous layer so they don’t precipitate in the alcohol along the DNA.
Ethanol or isopropyl alcohol pulls out the water molecules in the DNA and causes it to precipitate. When DNA comes out of the solution it tends to clump together, which makes it visible. The long strand of DNA will wrap around the spooling tool when it is swirled at the interface between the two layers.