Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, contains the genetic information for all living things. DNA is virtually identical in every one of a person’s cells. Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G), and Thymine (T) are its chemical bases (T).
The 3 billion bases that make up our DNA dictate not just our appearance but also our susceptibility to diseases like hereditary cancer and our response to certain drugs.
Hereditary qualities like eye colour or personality traits are regulated by genes, which provide the code for the creation of a protein. The proteins inside a cell tell it whether it is a skin cell, a blood cell, a bone cell, etc. and what its specific functions are.
You will need the following to extract DNA at home?
- Beaker
- Close-fitting lid for a test tube
- Soap, either for washing dishes or hands, in liquid form
- Water that has been distilled or stored in a bottle
- Disposable paper cups
- Chilled isopropyl or ethyl alcohol in the freezer for a few hours (at least 70% concentration, higher is ideal; we used 95%)
- If your alcoholic beverage does not have a dropper, you can use a pipette.
- Protective eyewear
- Lab scoop
- Lab coat
- Gloves
- Chloride of sodium (salt)
- Water that has been distilled or stored in a bottle
- Soap, either for washing dishes or hands, in liquid form
- Wooden skewers or stir rods (optional)
- Slim container made of glass (optional)
Steps in Extracting your DNA
Step 1: Put two lab scoops of salt and about 25 ml of distilled water into a beaker to make a saline solution. The salt won’t dissolve unless you give it a good stir.
Step 2: In a paper cup, add the salt water and stir.
Step 3: Do not swallow the solution; instead, take a small sip from the paper cup and swish it around in your mouth for at least 30 seconds, periodically scraping your teeth against the inside of your cheeks. It’s preferable to avoid doing this shortly after eating so that your mouth is fresh.
Step 4: Back into the cup, and spit your mouthwash mixture. The cup can be shaped into a spout to facilitate the transfer of the mouthwash solution into the test tube; fill the tube until it is about half full.
Step 5: Two drops of the liquid soap should be carefully added.
Step 6: With the test tube tilted at an angle of 45 degrees, add 20 drops of the cold alcohol using the pipette (or dropper on the alcohol bottle) to ensure that the alcohol slides down the test tube without disrupting the solution. Alcohol, being less dense than mouthwash and soap, will float on top of the mixture.
Step 7: Replace the cap securely and carefully turn the test tube upside down and back rightwards three times. It needs to be done carefully to avoid creating bubbles.
Step 8: Don’t touch the test tube for a full minute while it’s standing upright. A milky white thread, perhaps with bubbles embedded in it, should now be visible between the solution and the alcohol. It’s in your genes! After a few minutes, the DNA should be dispersed throughout the alcohol.
Step 9: The DNA can be wound around a skewer or stir rod placed in the test tube.
Step 10: It can be salvaged by scraping it into the little vial and preserving it in a few drops of alcohol. Your DNA can be preserved indefinitely if you keep it in the freezer.
What is happening?
Some of your cheek cells are suspended in the salt water when you gargle and spit it out. More cells from your cheeks will end up in the salt water if you gargle vigorously.
Your cheek cells’ membranes are dissolved by the dish soap. This lets the DNA get out into the salt water.
DNA is insoluble in alcohol, therefore at the interface between the two media, a solid is formed. Most of the other components of your cheek cells remain dispersed in the salt water. Those clusters and strings of white are thousands of DNA molecules. Because of their diminutive size, individual DNA molecules cannot be observed by the human eye.
The DNA you see is a combination of your DNA and bacterial DNA because when you gargle the salt water, you also collect some bacterial cells from the interior of your mouth.
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