from strawberries

1 resealable plastic bag

Strawberries (fresh or frozen)

2 teaspoons of dish detergent

1 teaspoon of salt

½ cup of deionized water

2 plastic cups

Filtering apparatus

Ice cold 90 percent rubbing alcohol

1 wooden popsicle stick or plastic coffee stirrer

Gloves

1 vial

Pull off any green leaves on the strawberries.

Put some strawberries into the plastic bag,

remove the air and seal it.

Gently smash the strawberries and crush

them completely. This starts to break open

the cells and release the DNA.

In a plastic cup make your buffer solution:

mix together the deionized water, the salt

and the detergent.

Add 2 teaspoons of the buffer solution into

the bag with the strawberries. This will

further break open the cells.

Reseal the bag and continue smashing the

strawberries gently for a while.

Place the coffee filter inside the other

plastic cup.

Open the bag and pour the strawberry liquid

into the filter. You can gently squeeze the

remaining liquid into the cup.

Put approximately 4 ml of the liquid into the

vial.

Tilt the vial a little bit and then pour slow and carefully about 16 ml of cold rubbing alcohol (until it reaches 20 ml). Do NOT mix or stir. You have just isolated the DNA from the rest of the material contained in the cells of the strawberry.

Within a few seconds, watch for the development of a white cloudy substance (DNA) in the top layer above the strawberry extract layer.

Pick up the DNA using a plastic coffee stirrer or a wooden stick.

This is your DNA…

You can also save the DNA you

extracted into a small vial

containing alcohol. In the vial with

the strawberry liquid and the

alcohol, DNA will continue appearing

and if you shake it a little bit, it will

have a smooth reddish color.

You can keep both vials in normal

atmosphere conditions without

damaging the DNA. Just have in

mind to change the alcohol after

a few years!