DNA Extraction (Lab)

• The capacity of the DNA to carry genetic information and pass on traits was the basis for it to be called as the molecular blueprint of life.
• One of the requirements for an organism to be considered a cell is the possession of a genetic material. An organism’s genetic material, wherever structure or region it is found, encodes all the biological information about the cell, and consequently the being.
• Cell reproduction happens when the cell is able to self replicate.
• To isolate DNA from fruit sources, the cell walls, cell membranes, and nuclear membranes must be disintegrated or lysed. The enzymes that naturally digest DNA must be disabled and the DNA must be precipitated out of the resulting solution.
• Lysing the cell of a piece of fruit is accomplished by quickly blending

  or smashing the fruit.
• Salt is added to the filtered fruit solution to combine the DNA strands

  that have been freed from the nucleus.
• Detergent is added to the mixture to break apart and emulsify the lipids and proteins that make up the cell and nuclear membranes.
• DNA-destroying enzyme DNAse is disabled by adding pineapple juice.
• Pineapple juice contains enzyme that help break down the cell membrane.
• Adding ethyl alcohol to the top of the chemically treated fruit mixture dehydrates and precipitates the DNA from the solution.
• Enzyme is a biological catalyst which is almost always a protein. It speeds up the rate of a specific chemical reaction in the cell.
• RNA

  ribonucleic acid
• DNA

  deoxyribonucleic acid