HOW TO EXTRACT YOUR OWN DNA

HOW TO EXTRACT YOUR OWN DNA

Collect a sample of DNA from your cheek cells with this great home experiment.

Apparatus required: -- concentrated alcohol (isopropyl alcohol), colored sports drink, paper cup, jar or a test tube, dish soap, pineapple juice, wooden skewer, microscope.

There are five steps to extract DNA given below.

STEP ONE: - Prepare your alcohol

For this experiment to work you need to get some highly concentrated alcohol. This can be easily obtained from your local pharmacy in the form of isopropyl alcohol. The closer you get to 100 per cent alcohol, the better success you will have. Around 24 hours before you start, place your alcohol in the freezer. It won’t solidify due its very low freezing point, but needs to be ice cold for the experiment to work.

STEP TWO: - Produce your cheek-cell mixture

Take a generous mouthful of a lightly colored sports drink and swirl it around your mouth. Aim to keep this going for a minimum of two minutes, which is a lot harder than it sounds. To get as many cheek cells and therefore as much DNA as possible, gently scrape your cheeks with your teeth. Be careful though, we don’t need any blood for this experiment.

STEP THREE: - Set up your test tube

Spit the mixture into a paper cup and pour the solution into a small, clean jar or a test tube, filling it by one third. Add a little dish soap, fasten the lid and then carefully mix the solution, slowly turning it upside down. The soap breaks down the cell membranes, releasing the DNA. Add a few drops of pineapple juice and repeat the process, ensuring you don’t create any bubbles.

STEP FOUR: - Add your chilled alcohol

Remove your alcohol from the freezer and take the lid off your mixed cheek-cell solution. While tilting the container in one hand, trickle the alcohol down the inside of the container so that it gradually forms a layer that floats on top of the solution. Once you are happy that a good layer has formed, slowly return the test tube to an upright position and then leave on a flat surface for one minute.

STEP FIVE: - Extract your DNA

Once one minute is up, look at the alcohol layer floating on top of the solution. If you can see a band of white material between the alcohol and the rest of the solution, your experiment has worked! This is your DNA, and it can be extracted using a wooden skewer. Dip the skewer into the solution so that it touches the white material, and then twirl it slowly in one direction. This should wind the DNA around your skewer. You can now store your DNA in the freezer or examine it using a microscope.

In summary:-

Gentle mixing of the soap and sports drink solution makes sure that the DNA clumps don’t break up, which makes the extraction process much easier. This experiment relies on the fact that DNA does not dissolve in alcohol, which forces it to precipitate out from the sports drink solution when this contacts the alcohol layer.

Disclaimer;- Always take care when handling potentially dangerous equipment or when working with electronics and follow the manufacturer's instructions.