La Immaculada Concepcion School

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

GENERAL BIOLOGY II

Name: LAURENO, Liza Marie B. Teacher: Ms. Castor

Grade/Section: Eleventh Grade – EPICURUS Date: May 9, 2018

“The Blue Print of Life”

I. OBJECTIVE
 To understand further about DNA
 To compare the amount of DNA in different fruits
 To be able to visualize how DNA looks like
 To understand the purpose of DNA extraction
II. MATERIALS
 Measuring cups
 Isopropyl rubbing alcohol
 Salt
 Water
 Dishwashing liquid/detergent
 small bowl
 Filter cloth
 Funnel
 Tall drinking glass
 Strawberries
 Kiwis
 Bananas
 Re-sealable plastic sandwich bags
 small cups
 Bamboo skewers
 kitchen scales
 measuring spoons
 knife
 rubber bands
III. PROCEDURE

Step 1. The Isopropyl rubbing alcohol was chilled prior to when the experiment was conducted.
Step 2. The equipment and materials which were needed to conduct the experiment were prepared and
set up beforehand.
Step 3. The extraction liquid was created by mixing salt (1/2 teaspoon), water (1/3 cup) and detergent or
dish-washing liquid (1 table spoon).
Step 4. 40 grams of the strawberries, kiwis and bananas were unpeeled and then measured by using the
kitchen scales.
Step 5. The fruits were placed in separate re-sealable plastic bags and all the extra air was pushed out.
Step 6. The fruit was mashed up using your fingers to remove any lumps in the bag.
Step 7. The bag was opened and 3 tablespoons of extraction liquid (what was made in step 3) was added
and then the bag was resealed.
Step 8. The bag was squished using your fingers to spread the liquid throughout the mixture for about a
minute.
Step 9. The equipment was set up as seen in figure 1, the funnel in the tall glass with the filter cloth on top
of the funnel and use a rubber band to secure the cloth.
Step 10. The substance was poured into the funnel with the filter cloth and waited till the juice has been
extracted leaving the pulp in the filter cloth.
Step 11. The juice was poured into a smaller cup and measured the amount by pressing tare on the scales
with the cup and then poured the juice in.
Step 12. Step 10 and 11 were repeated for the two remaining fruits.
Step 13. A 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol was measured.
Step 14. The rubbing alcohol was poured down slowly into the cup with juice.
Step 15. Step 13 and step 14 were repeated for the other fruit juices.
Step 16. Each of the 3 substances in the cups were measured and the cups were tared in order to measure
the weight of the substance only.
Step 17. A skewer was used to scoop out the DNA strands and to observe the results for each fruit.

IV. DRAWING
 V. QUESTION
 What is DNA used for when it is extracted?
DNA can be used for the identification of people involved in crimes, to help determine parentage of
people and also of plants and animals, and to check for genetic defects. For example, the DNA of these
kiwi/strawberry fruits can be compared to other samples to determine if one of them has been altered
in some fashion, such as changes that might be made to make a crop more nutritious. DNA from one
organism carrying a gene that codes for a specific trait might also be used for transformation. The
section of DNA containing this particular gene can be inserted into a different organism so that the
altered organism now has a specific trait that it did not previously carry.

 What steps did we use to extract the DNA?

First we broke apart the cell walls by physically squishing the fruit. The chemical (dishwashing liquid or
detergent) process broke down the cell walls, cell membranes and nuclear membranes. The fruit
mixture was cooled to stop the DNases released from the cytoplasm from destroying the cell’s DNA.
The mixture was filtered to separate out the large cell parts that are not needed. The DNA was then
precipitated through chemical means (the isopropyl.)

 What does the salt do?

The salt neutralizes the negative charges on the DNA and thus enables the DNA strands to stick
together. It also causes proteins and carbohydrates to precipitate.

 Why do we need to cool the mixture?

DNases or restriction enzymes that destroy DNA are present in the cell’s cytoplasm. They are there to
protect the cell from invasion by viruses. Once the nuclear membrane is destroyed by the soap, the
DNA is now susceptible to the DNases and will quickly be degraded. However, these enzymes are
temperature sensitive and cooling the solution slows down the process of degradation.
VI. CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that from my experiment and the research that DNA from different foods does vary and in
appearance as well. The DNA was extracted due to the dishwashing liquid/detergent busts open the cells of
the fruit, releasing the DNA and the salt helps as it ensures that the proteins in the cells are not separated
from the rest of the solution with the DNA. The Isopropyl rubbing alcohol allows me to see the DNA because
when molecules are insoluble the clump together and become visible so the alcohol makes the DNA insoluble
making it become visible.

By using the amount of DNA found in foods such as strawberries, kiwis and bananas scientist and farmers will
be able to benefit as they will be able to genetically modify foods. Genetically modifying foods is
any alteration of genetic material to make them capable of producing new substances or performing
new functions. These improvements to the food will make it disease resistant which will stop pests and other
problems from destroying the food which will save farmers money as they would not lose any crops also
scientist could genetically modify the fruit to be resilient to different weather climates so farmers could grow
without worrying about their crops when droughts occur. By changing the genes in the DNA of the food
farmers are able to produce better quality food for human consumption and even choose desired
characteristics for certain fruits like making strawberries seedless.