Strawberry DNA Extraction lab

The purpose of the experiment is to extract the DNA from the strawberries by mashing them after putting them in a plastic bag with an extraction buffer. Some of our key findings were the the white gooey substance on top after the procedure. The significance of this experiment is to know how to extract the DNA from the strawberries and to find out which part of the solution is the DNA. Our major conclusions were that the white substance on top was the DNA.

The problem is that we are trying to find the DNA in strawberries. It was carried out because we had all the materials in hand and we should know what the DNA in strawberries look like. DNA all started with the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher, who discovered it in 1869 and has left humanity wondering about it for generations after. The general method to approach it is to mash it and use an extraction buffer, which we are doing now. The expected results are that the DNA will float on top and be isolated from the strawberry by the alcohol.

The materials are: zip lock plastic bag, 1 strawberry, 10ml DNA extraction buffer, 2” x 2” cheesecloth (gauze) square funnel, ice cold alcohol, plastic transfer pipette, test tube, and wooden splint .

This experiment consists of the following steps:

1. add 5 ml of liquid dish washing detergent to a 100 ml beaker

2. now, add 0.75 g of salt to the same beaker

3. finally, add 45 ml of distilled water

4. rinse the strawberry with water from the tap and remove anything green (i.e. the stem and sepals

5. place the rinsed strawberry into a zip lock plastic bag and add 10 ml of the extraction buffer. carefully squeeze and seal the bag tightly, making sure any air does not remain in the bag

6. with your fingers, carefully crush or mash the strawberry against the lab table for about 1 minute 

7. place the funnel lined with the cheesecloth (gauze) square into the test tube

8. carefully pour the contents of the plastic bag (i.e. the mashed up strawberry and

extraction buffer mixture) into the gauze and filter the mixture into the test tube through the gauze

9. Fill the test tube with this mixture until it is about 1/4 filled

10. layer an equal volume of ice cold alcohol on top of the strawberry solution in the test tube using the plastic transport pipette

11. observe what happens at the interface of the alcohol and strawberry solution when you twirl a long wooden splint through the interface. keep the tube at eye level and DO NOT SHAKE it. 

In our results, we found the DNA. It is the white substance on top of the alcohol.

In the second picture as follows, we show the DNA rising from the strawberry.