Problem-For this project I will build my own DNA simulator to compare molecules in different colors of food dye. This simulator should work just like a real DNA machine to separate different types of DNA.
Hypothesis- I expect my DNA simulator to separate different molecules in the food coloring. For each of the food dye, I expect each color at least reach two bands. I also think the food dye after around 30 minutes will start making a brownish color. For my gel I expect it turn translucent in a section for each color. For example, I think the red food dye will make the gel turn into a pinkish color.
Procedure-
Cut top of soap box off
Measure the width of soap box
Cut two stainless steel wire pieces about 4 cementers longer than width of box. They should be long enough to hang over the top of the box
Connect the five 9 volt batteries together in a series by connecting positive to positive and negative to negative.
Cut out a comb out of the Styrofoam tray evenly
Heat up agarose gel in microwave for 4minutes ( I heated in the bottle it came in)
Insert the Styrofoam comb vertically in the box, leaving .5 centimeter from bottom
Pour in heated agarose gel
Let liquid cool turning back into gel
Make buffer solution by combining ½ teaspoon of baking soda with 200 ml of deionized water.
Cut a slit at top and bottom of gel with butter knife and insert stainless steel wires
Cover gel with buffer solution
Gently remove comb
Place a drop of different color food dye in each of the three slots
Attach alligator clips to each stainless steel wire. Positive side at the top, negative on bottom
Check progress every 15 minutes and record data
Compare each food coloring dye, measure distance color traveled, record number of bands observed.
Abstract- The DNA Box
On TV shows like CSI and Law and Order SVU, they use DNA to link the culprit to a crime. Detectives take samples of DNA from a crime scene to help them find out who did it. I have always been fascinated by the techniques they used to track DNA to a person. I always wanted to build something that can identify people from a very little sample of them. For my project, I have decided to live up to that dream invention and decided to build my very own DNA simulator.
The first thing I did to build my simulator was to cut my styrofoam board into a comb. Next, I heated my agarose gel for 3 minutes to turn it into a liquid form. While the gel was heating, I cut my wire a half inch longer than the width of my container. I did this twice. I then set up my comb about one inch from the bottom of my container upright and poured the liquid agarose into the container. I then waited 45 minutes until it was back in gel form. Once the gel was hardened, I cut two slits in the gel, one near the top and one near the bottom of the container. I placed the cut wire in each slit and had the excess hang over the side of the container. I then made the buffer solution by combining 200 ml of water and ½ tsp of baking soda, mixed it all up and covered the top of the agarose gel. I then pulled the comb out of the gel and dropped food coloring dye in each slot the comb provided. I then attached all five batteries together and clipped the batteries to the stainless steel wire with alligator leads. After all this was set up, I let the electricity do the magic and watched the dye flow through.
During the experiment I observed the following. First the electrical flow from the batteries allowed the dye from each color to develop different bands. The blue and green dye both had three distinct bands while the red only had two. When observing the blue dye I noticed the bands went from dark to light and back to dark, while the red bands just went from dark to light. The most interesting color was green. The green band broke up into two different colors, first blue then yellow. Green is a secondary color. To make green, blue and yellow must be combined. So this simulator successfully showed two separate DNA molecules in the yellow and blue bands. So if this was a actual DNA sample the results would show that the color green was the child of the color yellow and blue.
In conclusion, I have successfully built a DNA identifying simulator. What I learned from this project was that any piece of DNA can show what it was made from. I thought this project went really well. One thing that could affect whether or not it worked as well as it did for me is the amount of buffer solution poured on top of the gel. If you put too much or too little you could have various outcomes. A good follow up project that I think I’ll do is get my DNA examined to see my own DNA and what I am made up of.
Conclusion-This was a very interesting project. Most of my predictions were correct. The first being my project actually worked well. After researching real DNA identifiers and comparing their outcome to mine, I have to say my project was spot on. I was correct assuming each color would at least reach two bands. I was also correct about the translucent color. The one thing I was surprised about it is that not one of the food dyes turned brown. I really thought that because the steel wire carrying the electricity was very hot, and thought that the food dye would burn it’s color a bit. I was also surprised to see the green color separated into blue and yellow in one of the bands. This separation happened because combining the primary colors blue and yellow make the secondary color green. This is how DNA is identified. The DNA is broken down piece by piece to see what it is made up of and who it belongs to. So green belongs to both yellow and blue. I learned a lot about DNA and how DNA machines work.
Data- During the 45 minutes I observed that cooler colors recorded more bands than warmer colors. When observed both the green and blue food dye averaged three bands per test. The red food dye recorded 2 bands in the experiments.