Deoxyribonucleic Acid

We began our experiment by putting split peas and water into a blender and churning them. Eventually we were left with what looked like a milkshake from your worst nightmare, a horrible green goo that looked bad and smelled worse.

After running it through a strainer which got out all the chunky parts, we put some clear hand soap into the thin green liquid that was left. The hand soap, when left for 10 minutes, dissolved the phospholipids and thus destroyed the plasma membrane, allowing the contents of the cell to flow out. After this we added a very small amount of meat tenderizer which contains enzymes that destroy proteins, this is what makes the meat more tender. In this case, The enzymes in the tenderizer destroyed the proteins surrounding the DNA, which allowed the DNA to leak out. We then added to the solution rubbing alcohol equal to the amount of liquid in the glass which floated on top of the solution.

In the end we were left with the bottom of the glass full of dissolved proteins which looked a lot like green mush. In the top of the glass, however, there were long strings of DNA which were difficult to see with, and impossible to see without a flashlight.