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Finkelstein Lab Wiki

Fruit DNA Extraction

This is a good lab for teaching lessons on DNA. It also uses a variety of techniques to keep things interesting. Plus the lab smells like fruit after.

Contents

Section titled “Contents”
  1. Materials
  2. Protocol

1. Materials

Section titled “1. Materials”
  • 50g of fruit
  • plastic baggies
  • Extraction buffer: 250 mM NaCl and 10% SDS
  • Isopropyl alcohol

2. Protocol

Section titled “2. Protocol”
  1. In a plastic sandwich bag, add 30g of fruit and 25ml of extraction buffer.
  2. Mix the solution by smashing the fruit in the bag for 3 minutes.
  3. Let the mixture rock for 10min.
  4. Separate the solids from the liquids by centrifugation at 9,000 Gs for 10 minutes.
  5. Add 0.7 v/v of cold IPA to precipitate the DNA.
  6. Use a bent glass rod to spool out the DNA.