Dorothy Kam Y10J

Effect of different ratio of the salt mixture to the width of the strawberrys DNA

Research:

Extracting DNA is important to scientists, because this greatly aids scientists in finding cure
to genetic disorders, new cures to these illnesses in recent years are largely thanks to DNA
extraction, cures such as bone marrow transplant for sickle cell disease.
Extracting DNA is important to forensic scientists, this greatly aids the investigation to
quickly and accurately judge and identify suspects, sometimes this may prove to be challenging as
in some cases the DNA collected of the suspect might have been mixed with other DNA or have
been contaminated.
The dish washing detergent is needed to break the cell membrane and the nuclear
membrane, this helps the frees the DNA from the membrane protection and it also is to dissolve the
proteins and lipids from the DNA, the salt helps remove fat an protein from the DNA strand as well
as making the binding of DNA strands easier. The alcohol forces the DNA to bind together and
become visible.

Hypothesis:

I think that because the salt play key parts to make the DNA visible, I think that the more salt in the
mixture, the more visible and larger the DNA strands will be.

Variables:

independent variable
variable measurement Explanation
salt (grams) 0g As salt play a big part in
2g making the DNA strand more
4g visible I think that adding more
6g or less of the mixture may
affect the final product.
Dependant variable
variable
DNA
Controlled Variable
variable
Water bath (degrees celsius)
Strawberries (grams)
iced ethanol (millilitre)
measurement Explanation
visibility This will be the final item that
our group will be observing to
find out the visibility of the
DNA
measurement Explanation
60C As the water bath temperature
is not going to be changed they
are the controlled variables,
each assessment of the final
product will have the same
process and the same amount
of the control variables.
30g The amount of strawberries are
not going to be changed, they
are the controlled variables,
they will be measured to 30g
each time we perform the
experiment each assessment of
the final product will have the
same process and the same
amount of the control
variables.
20 ml The amount of iced ethanol are
not going to be changed they
are the controlled variables, we
will measure the ethanol each
time with a dropper before we
add it to the strawberry. The
assessment of the final product
will have the same process and
the same amount of the control
variables.
variable measurement Explanation
Water (milliliter) 90 ml This is the water mixed into the
strawberry solution, it is not
the same as the water bath as
these measurement of water are
not going to be changed they
are the controlled variables, the
water is to change the
consistency of the mashed
strawberry so that there will be
more juice to use when
assessing the DNA, each
assessment of the final product
will have the same process and
the same amount of the control
variables.
detergent (millilitre) 10ml As both detergent and salt play
a big part in making the DNA
strand more visible I think that
adding more or less of the
mixture may affect the final
product. But as we want to
focus on the breaking down the
fats and protein of the DNA
strands and we will try to see
the direct affect of not
removing the fat and protein
the amount of detergent will
not be different.
Strawberry mixture 1/4 of the test tube This is to ensure a fair
assessment in the amount of
DNA.
Equipment:

1x 100 ml beaker
2x 150 ml beaker
1x test tube rack
1x plastic bag
1x cheese cloth
1x funnel
1x glass rod
5x test tube
1x dropper

Risk Assessment:

Glass breaking when in the experimental process

When in this situation I should tell the teacher immediately or the lab technician
Human error may have affected our results as when we poured the strawberry mixture it may not
be the exact amount in each test-tube
To lessen the human error that is being done we have attempted to use a marker and a
ruler to measure how much food we put into each test tube.
the amount of DNA may be different in each part of the strawberry
Instead of measuring how big or small the strawberry is our group has mixed all the
strawberries together in the process of mashing up the strawberries in the bag.
The equipment may fall onto the floor for example: the glass rod may break when dropped
In cases of any glass equipment breaking or any equipment is damaged we will find
either a technician or teacher to help us in resolving these difficulties.
Lab coat and googles must be worn
To prevent dangerous substances to stain cloths and get into eyes.
Handle flammable materials such as Ethanol with care
Ethanol is flammable ( no ignition sources nearby)
Do not drink ethanol, if drunk seek a teacher or lab technicians help
Handle dish soap with care
Do not drink dish soap, it is a poisonous substance, seek teacher and lab technicians help
is consumed.
Method:
Step Description
1 Add 10 mL of dish soap into
the beaker
2 Add 2 g of salt into the mixture This step is the independent
3 Put two strawberry is in a bag
and crush them up, measure
30g of strawberries for each
experiment.
4 Add the dish soap and salt
mixture into the strawberry
5 Place 30 mL of water into the
strawberry and soap mixture
6 Place 30g strawberries mixture This step is to help make the
into the 60C water bath for 10 breaking down of fats, cell
minutes
7 Strain the strawberry mixture
Reason
This step is a controlled
variable, it is used to break
down the membranes of the
cell which holds the DNA.
variable, it helps break down
the proteins and fats that hold
onto the DNA.
This step is the controlled
variable, this is to help crush
the strawberries to ensure a fair
measurement to each of the
experiments.
This step is the controlled
variable, as dish soap and salt
mixture help breaks down
membrane of the cell, fats and
protein, to ensure fair a fair
experiment measure 10ml to
use each time.
This step is the controlled
variable, this helps make the
mixture more in quantity so we
can easily repeat the
experiment.
membrane and protein quicken.
It is a controlled variable.
This is a mandatory step, this is
to help the extraction of the
DNA to be clearer as it has no
pulp.
Step Description Reason

8 Add the strawberry mixture This is a controlled variable, to

into test tubes, about to the
quarter line of the test tube
9 Add 5 mL of iced ethanol into
the test tube
10 Wait for DNA to separate from
mixture
make sure it is a fair
experiment we need to make
sure the amount of DNA in
each is fair.
This is a controlled variable, to
make sure it is a fair
experiment we need to make
sure the amount of ethanol
used is the same, this is
measured with a dropper.

Results:
Trial 1:

Trial 2:
Trial 3:

Trial 4:
Trial 5:

Results Table:
Salt added Trial1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average
in ml: Width in Width in Width in Width in Width in
(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)

0 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.44

2 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.7 1.2 0.6

4 0.5 2.2 0.4 1.1 0.5 0.94

6 2.6 0.9 0.35 1 1.1 1.19

Graph:

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the amount of salt added to the mixture slightly affects the width of the DNA.
This shows that the amount of salt added into the mixture directly affects the visibility of the DNA
when doing this experiment(extracting fruit DNA). This is because they salt plays a very important
role in breaking down protein and fats in the cell. My hypothesis (I think that because the salt play
key parts to make the DNA visible, I think that the more salt in the mixture, the more visible and
larger the DNA strands will be.) is correct as the more salt in the mixture the thicker the width of
the DNA strand (average) is.

Evaluation:

I think overall our method is acceptable but it is not the best, next time if I do this
experiment again I think the independent variable will be the amount of detergent and soap mixture
instead of only salt. This experiment is to test how useful and how the salt effects the results of the
experiment. (The visibility of the DNA)
Evaluation-suggested improvements:

I think that the math it could be improved by controlling the salt and detergent mixture
instead of just controlling one variable in the mixture I feel like that would make it more valid.
Overall I think our experiment is quite reliable as we did a very detailed variables and we also
repeated the experiments five times. We used the ruler to record the results and I feel that is not very
precise as lifting both the ruler and they test tube up together, they might not be on the same level
when measuring that human error is easily made and it may not be as precise.

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