In our college/institute laboratories, majority of us must’ve done DNA extraction and its further screening by extracting DNA from bacteria, etc and then running it on the AGE (agarose gel electrophoresis) equipment.
Can DNA be extracted at home?
Why? Why not!?
DNA is present in fruits/vegetables that we eat! We never bothered to look for it though😉.
How is the laboratory method of DNA extraction different from the HomeLab method?
I think the main requirements would be
i) a fruit/vegetable ii) alcohol (rum/whiskey? no! in COVID times, sanitiser with 70% alcohol is enough!) iii) detergent/soap iv) warm water v) salt.
In this slide from the whiteboard (almost a self-explanatory slide), we arrived at the conclusion that DNA can be extracted from things available at home, with ease! This was followed by a discussion on the importance of each requirement; mortar pestle (for grinding/making a paste), soap/detergent (to disrupt the cell membrane; as soap does to the COVID19), alcohol, etc.
