Ash Fork middle schoolers explore strawberry DNA in the lab

ASH FORK, Ariz. - Seventh and eighth grade standard and honors science classes recently completed heredity and genetic studies at Ash Fork Middle School. In order for students to have a physical representation of something that is normally too small to see with the

naked eye, they extracted and studied DNA from strawberries. For the extraction, students used an extraction buffer containing salt, to break up protein chains that bind around nucleic acids, and dish soap to dissolve the lipid (fat) part of the strawberry cell wall and nuclear membrane. This extraction buffer helped provide student’s access to the DNA inside the cells.