Name: ____________________________________ Date: __________

Course and Section: ________________________ Group #: ______

LABORATORY ACTIVITY: NUCLEIC ACID

ACTIVITY 2: EXTRACTING DNA FROM A PLANT CELL

MATERIALS
• 1 large banana • 15 ml of 70% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol
• 1/2 cup distilled water (i.e., rubbing alcohol)
• warm water • zip lock bag
• 2 teaspoons clear, colorless (i.e., not • clear glass
cloudy) shampoo or liquid soap • toothpick or paper clip
• 1 teaspoon table salt

APPARATUS

• medicine dropper • mortar and pestle

• Erlenmeyer flask • filter paper

• cork or rubber stopper • funnel

• graduated cylinder • spatula

• stirring rod • watch glass

PROCEDURE

A. Preparation
1. In a beaker, fill with ice-cubes and some water, chill the 15 ml alcohol in a graduated
cylinder with a seal. Do this 30minutes before the start of the experiment.
2. Using a spatula, cut the banana into tiny pieces to expose more of the cells.
3. Place the cut bananas in a pestle and with a mortar smash the banana.
4. Once it’s turned into a paste, put it inside a zip lock bag making sure to remove air.
5. Fill an Erlenmeyer flask with 1/2 cup of distilled water then slowly add in 2 teaspoons
of dish soap and 1 teaspoon of table salt.
6. Gently mix this solution without making bubbles until the salt dissolves.
7. Add this solution to your zip lock bag of squished up fruit. Don’t add to much liquid.
Just add enough so that you have a nice mixture that you cannot see through.
8. Flatten out your baggie to remove most of the air and then seal it up. Gently squish
the liquid around. Let this mixture sit for 10-20 minutes in bowl of warm water.

B. Procedure
1. Place a coffee filter or a muslin cloth or thin cloth on top of a funnel and carefully
pour your fruit mixture into the filter, making sure the liquid is catch with a beaker
below. You can gently squeeze the filter to get more liquid out, just don’t break it.
2. Take the ice-cold alcohol and very slowly, drop by drop, using the medicine dropper,
pour it down the inside of the container with your fruit mixture. You are trying to
create a layer of alcohol that floats on the top of the water solution. The DNA will
come out of solution at the boundary layer between the water and alcohol. You should
see some white string almost cotton like strands begin to appear in the glass. That is
the DNA!
3. Use a hook (a bent paperclip would work) or a toothpick to slowly draw the DNA up
and out of the solution.
4. Take a photo with yourself holding the bottle with banana DNA.