Names: _____Aakash Reddy________________________________________ Date: ____11/13/18______________

Period: 2nd ______

DNA Extraction Lab
Introduction:
Have you ever wondered what DNA looks like? You are going to break apart the cell membrane of a strawberry and
separate the DNA from the nucleus. Strawberries are a good source of DNA because they have 8 copies of each type of
chromosome. This large number of chromosomes will filter out of your solution and you will get to actually see DNA.

Now, some of you have done strawberries before. So, today you will do strawberries as well as an alternative
food choice. Please discuss with your lab group and determine this AHEAD OF TIME. If you give me enough
notice, I can purchase this, or you may bring from home.

Review Pre-Lab Questions:

1. Where in the cell is the DNA found? DNA is found in the nucleus
2. How do you know the below cell is a plant cell? Because
3. For this lab, why would we be looking at plant cells rather than
animal cells?

Take a look at the sketch of the plant cell below. The chromosomes (which
are made of DNA) are in the nucleus. This is the place where most of the
DNA is located. (There are also small amounts of DNA in the chloroplast and
mitochondria.)
4. What do you think the DNA will look like when you extract it from the
plant cell? (Write a brief description.)
5. List the order of organization from DNA to chromosome. **You will
need to get this from me because it is in the notes that we have not
covered yet.

6. What is the alternative food choice you chose?

Write a Hypothesis: What do you think DNA will look like when it is extracted from the strawberry? Why?

Draw your strawberry and alternative food choice prior to starting the lab! This goes down as observational notes.

Materials:

 heavy duty ziploc bag (donations appreciated!)

 1 strawberry
 10 mL DNA extraction buffer (soapy, salty water)
 coffee filter (because do you even know what cheesecloth is?)
 funnel
 beaker (better than the test tube)
 glass rod (or your finger)
 20 mL ethanol or isopropyl alcohol (cold)

Procedure:
Working together in your pairs, read through the entire procedure & follow the steps below.

1. Place one strawberry in a Ziploc bag.

2. Smash/grind up the strawberry using your fist and fingers for 2 minutes. Careful not to break the bag!!
3. Add the provided 10mL of extraction buffer (salt and soap solution) to the bag.
4. Kneed/mush the strawberry in the bag again for 1 minute. The more you mush, the more DNA you will extract.
5. Assemble your filtration apparatus as shown on page 1.
6. Pour the strawberry slurry into the filtration apparatus (on top of the coffee filter) and let it drip directly into your
beaker through the funnel.
7. Slowly pour cold ethanol into the tube. OBSERVE ☺ You may need to do this more than once. You MUST get
permission from me if you wanted to do more ethanol.
8. Remove the top portion (funnel with filter) DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR FILTER YET IN CASE YOU MESSED
UP!!
8. Dip the glass rod (or your finger) into the beaker where the strawberry extract and ethanol layers come into contact with
each other. OBSERVE ☺

REPEAT STEPS 1-8 with your alternative food choice as well. You can have both going on the same time if there are
enough materials.

As you wait for your solution to filter, complete the following questions:

Part I: Questions

 What was the purpose of mashing up the strawberry?

 What does the extraction buffer do? (Hint: Extraction buffer contains soap.)
 What does soap do when you wash your hands?
 What does the filter do?

Part II: Observations

 Watch where the alcohol and extract layers come in contact with each other. Keep the tube at eye level so you
can see what is happening.
 What do you see appearing? (Sketch what you see and note any other observations.)

Part III: Conclusions and Analysis:

1. It is important that you understand the steps in the extraction procedure and why each step was necessary. Each
step in the procedure aided in isolating the DNA from other cellular materials. Match the procedure with its
function:

PROCEDURE FUNCTION

A. Filter strawberry slurry through coffee filter ___ To precipitate DNA from solution
B. Mush strawberry with salty/soapy solution ___ Separate components of the cell
C. Initial smashing and grinding of strawberry ___ Break open the cells
D. Addition of ethanol to filtered extract ___ Break up proteins and dissolve cell membranes

2. What happened when you added the filtrate to the alcohol?

3. What does DNA look like?
4. A person cannot see a single cotton thread four classrooms away. But if you wound thousands of threads together
into a rope, it would be visible at the same distance. How is this statement an analogy to our DNA extraction?
5. Is DNA found in all living or once living cells?
6. Since the strawberries were once living, and we extracted DNA from them, what does this mean about the foods
you eat?
7. Look at the plant cell pictured on page one of the lab handout. Remember that genes are found on chromosomes,
and genes control traits. Give at least two examples of traits that are expressed in the strawberry.
8. Why is it important for scientists to be able to remove DNA from an organism? List two reasons.
9. Does your DNA look the same as others? Why or why not?
10. Do you believe that you extracted all of the DNA from the strawberry? Name and explain at least two reasons to
support your conclusion.
11. What are at least two sources of error for this experiment?
12. If you were to repeat the experiment, what would you do differently (and not just fix the issues in #11).
13. How do your strawberry DNA results compare to your alternative food DNA extraction? Give observations, as
well as reasoning/logical explanations to support what occurred.