Extracting DNA *cough cough Organs* Genetics 🔬 🧪🧬

I lied, we didn't extract any organs, cause I'm pretty sure that's illegal, and I don't think I need anything on my permanent record. 
K, so Mr Heath is going to extract all our DNA and all our organs and sell them on the Black Market. Just kidding guys, I do Brazillian Jiujitsu now so I can kick his butt and he's too scared to mess with me anyways. Notice how I say the word butt but I really mean a**. 

ANYWAYS, For our Genetics topic in Science, we conducted an experiment, extracting DNA from a Kiwifruit. Turns out you need quite a lot of equipment, so keep that in mind if you are planning to conduct this experiment yourself. You also need Ethanol, now I'm not sure if you can purchase it anywhere, so be mindful of that if you wish to conduct this experiment. Ethanol is stronger than stomach acid, let that sink in for a minute. 

Just thought I would give you a brief lesson on extraction. Nowadays, when people hear the word "extraction", a lot of them think of pimple or earwax extractions, and maybe even organ extractions. In a scientifical context, extraction is a way of separating a substance desired when it is mixed with other substances. So in normal words, it's taking out a substance that has been mixed with other things. So in this case, we were extracting DNA from a Kiwifruit so we were taking out the DNA from it, or separating it.

Equipment for the extraction 
Kiwifruit (don't eat it)
Scalpel (this is sharp, please don't cut yourself cause I'm not being responsible for you cutting yourself, I don't want to be sued)
Scientific spatula (not the type you cook with, wouldn't want to die because of the chemicals in the laboratory)
Ziploc Bag (like the bag you used to put all your snacks in during primary school, you could still do it now, I don't know your life)
25mls of water (have you drunk enough water today?)
A pinch of salt (if you want to be all food scientific, a pinch of salt can be measured at the end of a knife)
Small cloth to wipe all your tears away (just kidding I'm sorry)
Funnel (the triangle looking thingy)
Beaker (This is the piece of equipment that looks like a cup)
Test tube (where the extraction occurs)
A squirt of Dishwashing liquid (I don't know what measurement a "squirt" is equivalent to, but just a tiny bit)
10mls of Ethanol (Don't drink the Ethanol you idiot, you don't want to die of poisoning)

Method of the extraction (read carefully) 
1. CAREFULLY using the scalpel, slice the kiwifruit in half. Be careful not to cut your fingers off, cause you need fingers, and you don't want to lose your precious phalanges (look at me using the scientific term for finger bones, you should be proud)
2. CAREFULLY using the spatula, scoop out the goopy remains and insides or flesh of the kiwifruit and place it in the Ziploc bag. (NO YOU CANNOT EAT THE KIWIFRUIT, IT IS IN A LAB. LAB=CHEMICALS, CHEMICALS=POTENTIAL HARM TO HEALTH, HARM TO HEALTH=SICKNESS, SICKNESS=POSSIBLE DEATH, soz that's a bit dramatic but you can't be too careful.)
3. Add 25mls of water and the pinch of salt to the ziplock bag
4. Close the bag and use all your anger to mush the kiwifruit into a soup-like paste. Channel your inner boxer to mush the heck out of that kiwifruit.
5. Place the cloth on top of the funnel and the funnel over the beaker. Pour the soupy kiwifruit mixture liquid into the funnel/cloth. (DON'T EAT IT)
6. Pour the liquid from the beaker into a test tube
7. Add your squirt of dishwashing liquid to the liquid and swirl it around in the test tube.
8. Allow to sit for 5 minutes
9. Tilt the test tube on a 45-degree angle and slowly pour the 10ml of Ethanol into the mixture. (DON'T DRINK IT)
10. Allow the mixture to sit.

Results of our experiment
So I do believe that our experiment was successful. After we completed all of the steps and allowed it to settle for a few minutes, the mixture had white strands that rose to the top, which was the DNA. The mixture separated into three sections, the top section looked quite cloudy and it formed together quite nicely. The middle layer separated the foam and was clearish and looked like water and the final layer at the bottom looked like kiwifruit juice and was green (just like Kermit the frog). You may not be able to really see it in the photo and it's quite hard to see, so you're just going to have to trust me that, these were the results.  The vertical photo was after the dishwashing liquid step. The photo beneath this text was after all of the steps.











Discussion

Yay, now you get to read me rambling on about extraction, wooo, lucky you.
So the steps we took allowed us to separate the DNA from the rest of the contents in the Kiwifruit, so in the end, we got to see all the DNA in half a kiwifruit which was cool. In the end, Mr Heath did give us permission to play with the remaining DNA in the test tube, so we picked it up and felt the texture which was quite jelly-like. The water that we added aided in the breaking of the kiwifruit and but didn't really provide many other uses. The salt was used to aid in the clumping process of the DNA and you can see that in the white foam at the top of the mixture. Salt is used in many different chemistry experiments in this way. The foaming detergent made the DNA more prominent than just the white foam and we could actually see at least some of the DNA strands, and they stood out so much due to this detergent. As the detergent is bubbly and easy to study, it really did help this experiment. The ethanol was what provided the strands of DNA and the foam to rise to the top. Ethanol has a different density to the water, which is what caused it to rise to the top, and brought the kiwifruit DNA strands with it.

Conclusion
So what have we learned reading this post? Well obviously, DON'T EAT FOOD IN THE LAB, seriously, it can be very dangerous and we don't want any harm to anyone. Fun fact, Ethanol is stronger than stomach acid so it could cause death, be very careful. I am very glad that we were able to extract all of the DNA from half of a Kiwifruit, our experiment was very successful. I honestly, before this, didn't know the full scientific definition of what extraction was so that was good to learn. We have learned that with the extraction of DNA, the process is quite simple and that we can separate DNA from other contents within fruits and other things. I do think that this was quite interesting. I still think I prefer Chemistry over Biology, but it's starting to grow on me and I've enjoyed this topic.