Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

My name is Nathan and I live in Southern California.
I am doing a science fair project on: Does the DNA of a cow appear different than a chicken's?

I extracted the DNA using this method:
I first blended up the chicken/cow's liver with warm water and salt.
I then put Dawn dish soap (which was blue) into the mixture and let it sit for 10min.
Then I put in a pinch of meat tenderizer and let it sit for 20min.
Next I added the rubbing alcohol and let that sit for 20min.

With the cow's liver I was unable to spool any DNA on a wooden rod, but I used a pipette to remove some of the white stringy stuff and put it on a slide.
I was able to spool some of the chicken DNA, it was more mucus like with tiny bubbles attached to the strings.
To the naked eye, the cow and chicken DNA looked different. The cow's was white with small strings and fluffy.

I had just a couple questions if you have the time.

1. Do you have any idea why I was unable to spool the cow's DNA?
2. When I looked under the microscope the cells were blue and pink on both the chicken and cow slides. Is this because the Dawn soap was blue?
3. My microscope only magnifies up to 1200x. When I looked at the slides, both the chicken and cow looked the same. Would the DNA look different if I was able to look at it under a stronger microscope?

Thank you for your time,
Nathan

Hi Nathan!
Sounds like a really interesting idea! I'm not quite sure why the cow DNA did not spool, but I do think that the reason why your cells turned other colors is due to the soap and chemical reactions which might have occurred with that. In addition, in response to your final question, if you would like to see the DNA in detail to figure out the differences, you will need a much stronger microscope. Maybe you can try asking a teacher if there are any nearby universities or laboratory facilities which would have electron microscopes or other powerful microscopes which will help further your research. Hope this helps, best of luck!