Edible DNA
What is DNA?
DNA is made up of two strands that wrap around each other with Nitrogen bases that kind of look like steps in between. This is called a double Helix. The strands are made of alternating sugar and phosphate. The Nitrogen bases can be made of adenine (A), Thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine(C). Each base always pairs up with a certain other base. A can only paired with T and G can only be paired with C. And visa versa. DNA is what tells your cells what you look like. If you have blond or brown hairĀ or if you have blue or brown eyes. Pretty much all your characteristics.
Explain what the following model pieces are. Marshmallows, licorice, toothpicks.
The marshmallows represent the different nitrogen bases. Yellow represented Adenine, orange represented thymine, green represented guanine, and pink represented cytosine. The licorice was the strands of sugar and phosphate. Although we only had one colour of licorice. The toothpicks are the nitrogen bases.
Did this activity help you understand the structure of DNA?
Yes it did. It helped me understand where everything goes in a DNA structure. It showed me how the two licorice pieces wrapped around the nitrogen bases and how the nitrogen bases had either A and T or G and C. This also helped remember that all the bases were paired up with another base.