DNA Extraction – Strawberries

Activity Summary
DNA is found in most living things, and with the right household items DNA can easily be extracted from the cells. Strawberries are a good fruit to use because they are soft, easy to pulverize, and have eight copies of each chromosome in each cell. The strawberry is crushed and the cell membrane is dissolved. Lastly ethanol is used to precipitate the DNA from solution.

Grade Levels
9-12

Learning Objectives
1. Successfully extract DNA from a strawberry via simple filtration
2. Identify what contains DNA
3. Extract DNA from fruit using household items

Lesson Materials (view or download)
PowerPoint
Lesson Plans

Keywords
DNA, extraction, strawberry

Last updated: 3/3/2015