dna extraction from peas

The first 200 words of this essay...

An experiment investigating the extraction of DNA from peas.

Introduction

Deoxyribonucleic acid or its commonly known name DNA - is a molecule that contains our genes. It forms part of a chromosome and is only found inside the nucleus of a cell. Our DNA consists of units called nucleotides. Each consists of a 5-carbon sugar, deoxiyribose, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base - adenine (a), cytosine (c), guanine (g) or thymine (t). The DNA molecule consists of 2 strands twisted together to form a double helix (almost like a twisted ladder). The phosphate and the sugar molecules make up the sides of the ladder, with the nitrogenous bases making up the steps of the ladder

The genes hold all the instructions for making all the thousands of proteins that are found in a cell. It is these proteins, which determine what, the cell will look like and what jobs that particular cell will do. For example, our DNA controls hair colour and eye colour. In this experiment DNA was extracted from peas. This is an ideal product to use as it doesn't smell (like onions) and also prevents the spread of any disease (e.g., by