Lab 2

Question 1

What is DNA made up of (3 components)

Answer 1

1) 5-carbon deoxyribose sugar
2) 1 of 4 nitrogenous bases bound to 1’ end of deoxyribose
3) at least 1 phosphate group covalently bound to carbon 5’ of the deoxyribose

Question 2

How long is DNA

Answer 2

Distance between 2 steps is (0.34 nm)(6 billion steps) = 2m long

Question 3

What do histones do

Answer 3

Positively charged proteins
DNA is wound tightly around them to form chromatin

Question 4

What does dishwashing detergent do to DNA in strawberries

Answer 4

Lyses the cell membranes and denatures proteins

Question 5

How does DNA separate from histones

Answer 5

Using dishwasher detergent and table salt

Question 6

What does table salt do to DNA in strawberries

Answer 6

Sodium forms electrostatic interactions with negatively charged DNA and chloride ions form electrostatic interactions with positivly charged histones

Question 7

What does isopropanol do to DNA in strawberries

Answer 7

Decreases polarity of the solvent so DNA can be wound on itself on a glass rod

Question 8

What does ethanol do to DNA in strawberries

Answer 8

DNA is not soluble do ethanol washes away any contaminant proteins

Question 9

Why are strawberries used as a source of DNA

Answer 9

Multiple copies of each chromosome

Question 10

What does SYBR Gold do

Answer 10

Gives off bright yellow-gold light when bound to double stranded DNA when exposed to blue light