Banana DNA - Science Club

Today at Science club we learnt about DNA. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is found in every cell in your body so it is in blood, saliva, hair, skin, bones and other body fluids.

We did an experiment to extract DNA from a banana. This is what we did

What to do

1. Blend one banana together with 1 cup of water until smooth.
2. Fill a tube with around 15mls of the smooth banana and water solution.
3. Add around 10 drops of detergent to the banana mixture in the tubes.
4. Put a lid on the tubes and gently shake them (this will break open the cells and release the DNA).
5. Carefully pour around 20 to 30mls of methylated spirits (also known as denatured alcohol) into the banana mixture.
6. Use a straightened paperclip or similar object to fish out the gooey strands of banana DNA.
7. Collect the strands in a small dish.

When we poured the DNA into a dish it looked like a gooey mixture - we could pull out the long strands of DNA.


Sometimes it didn't work so we tried again.

Miss Harrison's didn't work because she didn't follow the instructions and forgot to put dishwashing liquid in. !!!!!!!

We also found out that when you put meths onto black paper the ink comes out and makes a mess.

Meths is a dangerous substance so we had to work carefully with it.

If you want to try this at home you will need an adult to supervise you.