PAMPANGA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

SAN AGUSTIN, MAGALANG PAMPANGA

S.Y. 2021-2022

JACA, JAHZEL E. OCTOBER 28, 2021

BS BIOLOGY 1-B BIO. SCI. 2 (GENERAL ZOOLOGY)

LABORATORY ACTIVITY 2

I. STUDENT DATA SHEET

Answer the following questions based on the performed experiment.

1) Draw the liquids and solids as they appear in your glass container. Label the DNA in your
drawings (one for banana and one for cheek cells).

CHEEK BANANA

2) Described the appearance of the DNA you extracted (both form banana and cheek cells).
What does it looked like? (color, texture, quantity, how well it sticks to the rod, etc.)

 The DNA appear white and formed a clump made of string-like strands that wrap
onto the glass rod. The two different DNA extract from the cheek cells and banana
and very different when they appear on the glass. Banana appears like cloudy and its
DNA is like cotton. The cheek cells formed like a very tiny bubbles with strings that
pulls the structure together.

3) Describe the role of each of the main steps/materials used in the process of DNA
extraction:

a) Crushing - crushing the bananas separates its cells with the help of salt and soap.

b) Swishing/gargling - gargling of swishing the salt water in our mouth is a way of

getting the cells in our cheeks. After washing your mouth, your saliva will naturally
include cheek cells that will be split open during the treatment to release the DNA.
Once the DNA has been produced, the salt, sodium chloride, is utilized to stabilize it.
 PAMPANGA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
SAN AGUSTIN, MAGALANG PAMPANGA
S.Y. 2021-2022
c) Salt solution- help the DNA strands to stick to each other in clumps large enough for
you to see.

d) Dish washing liquid - When dish soap is added, the cell membrane and nucleus are
split apart, allowing the DNA to be released.

e) Cold alcohol - The role of alcohol in DNA extraction is to precipitate DNA into a visible
form. It's important to use cold alcohol because it allows a larger amount of DNA to
be extracted. adding alcohol helps the clumps of DNA to form.

4) Compare and contrast extracted DNA from a banana with the collected cheek cells.

 The DNA that I have extracted from the cheeks is just a small quantity.The
appearance is like it has strings that pulls the DNA together. When I get the DNA
using a toothpick, it gently sticks to it. DNA, as what I have observed in the
experiment it looks like foamy and soft.
 DNA of a banana is more foamy and its appearance in the glass container is like a
cloud. Its is more faster to precipitate than cheeks cells and when I get the DNA from
the container using toothpick it looks like cotton.

5) Do you think your results would be different if you were to use a fruit or vegetable other
than bananas? Justify your answer.

 Since all fruits and vegetables have DNA they can all be used in this experiment, and
some will just have more DNA than others.

6) Why does the DNA become visible once the alcohol is added?
 The DNA precipitates as a result of the alcohol. When DNA is extracted from solution,
it tends to clump together, making it visible. When the stirrer or transfer pipet is
swirled at the interface between the two layers, the long strands of DNA will wrap
around it.


7) If DNA is so thin, how is it that we are able to see it during this simple lab exercise?
 When molecules cluster together and become visible, they are said to be insoluble.
Because DNA is not soluble in alcohol, it causes the DNA strands to clump together
and appear visible to the naked eye.

CONCLUSION:
DNA can be extracted and observe even you are at home. Using simple materials at home,
we can extract a DNA and through this experiment that we have conducted, it proves that science is
observable.
 PAMPANGA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
SAN AGUSTIN, MAGALANG PAMPANGA
S.Y. 2021-2022

DOCUMENTATION

DNA from cheek Extracted DNA from cheek cells stick

precipitation. in the rod.

Figure 1. Figure 2.

Mixing the salt water and dish washing

liquid to extract the DNA from cheek Banana Crushing

Figure 3. Figure 4.

Stirring the mixture of banana, dish

washing liquid and salt water to
Figure 5. extract only the liquid.