Munachi Hugh Mbaezue Dr Romine Biology Lab Report 6

Aim: DNA experiment.

Procedure: We wrote our name on a 15ml tube 1 I poured sports drink provided into our mouth without swallowing. 2 After one minute of gaggling, I emptied the sports drink with collected spit cells into a small plastic cup 3 I emptied the content of the plastic cup into the labeled 15-mL tube 4 Using a plastic I added 2 mL of cell lysis solution to my collected cheek cells. Used the graduations marked on the plastic pipet to measure the 2 mL amount 5 I caped my the 15 mL tube tightly and inverted it 5 times. 6 I held the tube in an angle and using a plastic pipet, I carefully added cold 70% ethanol by running it down the inside of the tube. Then I added the ethanol until the total volume reached 12-13mL. 7 Then I placed the 15 mL tube upright in a test tube rack and I let it stand undisturbed for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Result During the experiment I noticed that the collected cheek cells settled out as a pellet in the bottom of the 15 mL tube. Then I noticed that the wispy strands of translucent DNA began to clump together where the ethanol layer met the cell lysate layer. After 10 minutes, DNA continued to precipitate out of solution and extended like a ribbon through the entire ethanol layer.

Questions

1 Long strands of double helix wrap around histone proteins making the beads on a string structure. The wrapping goes on and on to achieve secondary and tertiary level of packing ultimately the whole thing is highly packed enough to fit inside the nucleus 2 sports drinks have the same salt content as biological fluid. the cells have salt in them so if water is used it follows the salt concentration gradient (goes to where there is more salt) to try and make the concentration inside and outside the cell the same, and as a result if water is used the cells explode! 3 A cell lysis solution causes the cell membrane to rupture and break open 4 The DNA in the cell lysate becomes visible because... The lysate draws the DNA upward, making several strands cling together and become visible to the naked eye. 5 The average legnth of DNA in a given human cell is roughly 2m (6ft). When extracted from many cells in a sample, using various solvents, the DNA can easily be collected and seen with the naked eye. 6 A scientist could use an extracted DNA to know if an individual was involved or around a crime scene.

Focus Questions: 1 Each gene makes an important part of each cell. Chromosomes are lots of genes put together. Our DNA is the collection of all of our chromosomes 2 Yes, They both have the same chromosomes except for a few mutations which occurred after our cells were specialized. The reason that the liver cell and the cheek cell have different characteristics is that different parts of their chromosomes are used in making proteins 3 Yes, you could isolate a gene for a stomach protein in a cheek cell. No, not all of the genes active in stomach cells would be active in cheek cells. Both cells would have genes activated for basic cellular functions like maintenance, acquiring materials and energy, and reproduction. Only stomach cells would have genes active for making digestive proteins while cheek cells would have genes active for making proteins that created red/pink pigments 5 The Nucleus 6 Because the cell is incapable of translating DNA directly into proteins 7 I am going to think that the first step will be to separate the nucleus from the cell. Actually the first step will be to remove the DNA itself from the rest of the cell. Detergent will aid in this because it is effective in getting rid of the other basic components of the cell like proteins and lipids. 8. Proteins, Lipids, Carbohydrates, protons, sodium, potassium, traces of other elements