EXTRACTING DNA FROM BANANAS

Biology 12
LAB REPORT
Kent Alexis Alia STEM 12-A
Introduction:

The hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms is

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid. Plants and animals have obvious
differences, but at the chemical level, all cells contain double
helix DNA and the same four chemical building blocks known as
nucleotides. The arrangement of these four nucleotides in DNA is
what distinguishes these plants and animals. Their sequence
determines which proteins are produced, and the information they
encode determines whether the organism produces scales or leaves,
legs or a stalk.

Scientists typically use one of the many DNA extraction kits

available from biotechnology companies to obtain DNA from a cell.
To lyse the DNA for extraction, the fruit—in this case a banana—is
mashed or blended and soaked in hot water with detergent solution.
The DNA is then precipitated out using cold alcohol. Bananas were
chosen for this experiment because each banana cell has three copies
of the genome, making it easier to extract the DNA because there is
many per cell, whereas most organisms only have one genome per cell.
Materials:

Cold ethyl alcohol

Dropper
Measuring Spoon
Salt
Hot Water
Dishwashing liquid (for hand-washing
dishes)
2 Beakers
Filter
paper
Funnel
2 Test tubes
2 pieces of
banana
Resealable plastic Ziploc bag
2 graduated cylinders
Stirring rod

Preparation

 Chill the rubbing alcohol in the freezer.

 Mix one teaspoon of salt, 250ml of hot water and 5 drops

of dishwashing liquid in a beaker. Set the mixture aside.
(This is your extraction liquid)
  Completely cover the funnel with filter paper. Insert
the funnel tube into the graduated cylinder (not the
beaker with the extraction liquid in it).

 Remove and discard the peel from the bananas.

Procedure

 Put the bananas into a resealable plastic sandwich bag

and push out all the extra air. Seal the bag tightly.
 With your fingers, squeeze and smash the bananas for two
minutes.
 Add three tablespoons of the extraction liquid you prepared
to the bananas in the bag. Push out all the extra air and
reseal the bag.
 Squeeze the banana mixture with your fingers for one
minute.
 Pour the banana mixture from the bag into the funnel. Let
it drip through the filter paper and into the graduated
cylinder until it measures 5 ml (only wet pulp remains).
 Pour the filtered banana liquid from the graduated cylinder
into the test tube so that the test tube is one halfway
full.
 Measure out 2.5 ml of cold rubbing alcohol.

 Tilt the test tube and very slowly pour the alcohol down
its side. Pour until the alcohol has formed approximately a
one-inch- deep layer on top of the banana liquid

Note: Do not let the banana liquid and alcohol mix.

 Study the mixture inside of the test tube. The banana DNA
will appear as gooey clear/white stringy stuff.
 Dip the stirring rod into the test tube where the banana
liquid and alcohol layers meet and then pull up the rod.
Observations and Results

When you added the salt and detergent mixture to the smashed
banana, the detergent helped lyse the banana cells, releasing the
DNA into solution, whereas the salt helped create an environment
where the different DNA strands could gather and clump, making it
easier for you to see them. (When you added the salt and detergent
mixture, you probably mostly just saw more bubbles form in the bag
because of the detergent.) After you added the cold rubbing alcohol
to the filtered banana liquid, the alcohol should have precipitated
the DNA out of the liquid while the rest of the liquid remained in
the solution. You should have seen the white/clear gooey DNA
strands in the alcohol layer as well as between the two layers. A
single small strand of DNA have clumped in this activity.

Comments and Recommendations

Our results were a bit underwhelming, we expected to yield a bigger

strand of DNA from the lab activity; our banana was a saba banana
which belongs in the ABB group (triploid cultivars of musa and
paradisiaca) which is a triploid meaning there are three sets of
chromosomes. I think the extraction solution ratio with the
dishwasher liquid, salt and water were unsaturated and dormant and
was unable to lyse the banana enough hence why we only yielded
small amounts of DNA clumps, a different ratio of the extraction
solution would be recommended for better results.