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The effects of the amount of wheat germ on DNA production

Background: Wheat Germ

Background:DNA

wheat germ offers a significant dose of vitamins, minerals and protein. Tiny in size, but a nutrient-rich powerhouse, wheat “germ” (short for germination) is the part of wheat that sprouts and grows into a new plant. Despite being the most vitamin- and mineral-rich part of the wheat kernel, it’s left out when wheat is processed into white flour.

DNA is the universal genetic code for all living things. The two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides since they are composed of simpler units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of a nitrogen-containing nucleobase—either guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T), or cytosine (C)—as well as a monosaccharide sugar called deoxyribose and a phosphate group.

Hypothesis

If more wheat germ is places then more DNA will be produced because the more the wheat germ the more the DNA

CONT...

SAFETY

WHY MATERIALS?

independent variable: amount of wheat germ

dependent variable: DNA production

Factors that must be controlled: temperature, amount of water/ detergent

- wear gogles to protect eyes from harsh chemicals

- wear apron to protect clothing

-make sure to wash hands before and after the experiment

-meat tenderizer acts as an enzyme to cut proteins just like a pair of scissors

-Alcohol is less dense than water, so it floats on top. Look for clumps of white stringy stuff where the water and alcohol layers meet.

-A cell's membranes have two layers of lipid (fat) molecules with proteins going through them.When detergent comes close to the cell, it captures the lipids and proteins.

Materials

- (2) hot plate

-(2) Thermometer

- (2) 100ml beaker

- (2) 45m ml water

- (2) water bath

- 9g wheat germ

- (2) 3 ml detergent

- (2) 2g meat tenderizer

- (2) 5ml baking soda solution

- (2) 40ml 95% ethanol solution

- ice bath

-toothpick

- electrical scale

Procedure

1. add (45)mL of water into the 100mL beaker

2. Warm the water in a water bath for 5 minutes. (Do not exceed 60 degrees)

3. Measure (6)g of wheat germ. Add it to the 100 mL beaker. Stir.

4. Add (3) mL of detergent to the 100 mL beaker. Stir.

5. Heat for 5 minutes

6. Add (2)g of meat tenderizer and (5) mL of baking soda solution to the 100 mL beaker. Stir.

Procedure Continued

DATA

7. Heat for 7-8 minutes

8. Remove the 100 mL beaker from the water bath and place on ice for five minutes

9. Pour (40) mL of 95% ehtynol alcohol down the side of the beaker

10. Spool the DNA with a toothpick

The process

6g wheat germ

3g wheat germ

Conclusion

The purpose of this experiment was to see how household items could extract DNA from wheat germs. It also taught us the procedure used to extract DNA from things such as wheat germ and strawberries.

Data Analysis

Future experiments

From the experiment pictures you can see that the 6g of wheat germ beaker had almost double amount of DNA than the 3g of wheat germ. This makes sense because the more the wheat germ the more the DNA.

Error Sources

For future experiments, we could see how it changed if the experiment was conducted in apple juice instead of water.

Another future experiment that can be conducted would be to see if brand of detergent effected DNA production

1. Possible error sources could be exceeding 60 degrees while heating our sample.Next time turn off the hot plate at 55 degrees or even 50 degrees

2. Also the sample may have not been cooled down enough before adding the ethanol. Next time put a thermometer to make sure it is cool enough.

2. Another error source can be technique. (The way the ethanol is poured down.) Next time ask a teacher to help you pour down ethanol properly.

Discussion

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA

http://www.kretschmer.com/about-wheatgerm

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/extraction/howto/

Our hypothesis can be accepted. Upon conducting the experiment with double the amount of wheat germ, it resulted in a higher quantity of DNA than our original experiment, which contained less wheat germ.

This proved the idea of doubling the amount of wheat germ, you also increase the amount of produced DNA, because you have more subjects to pull DNA out of.

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