In Biology we used kits to look at how a DNA fingerprint occurs. We took freeze dried Lambda bacteriophage DNA and activated it with water. A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. They have mapped out all of the sequences of DNA that Lambda has. The Lambda DNA sequences can fill 8 full pages with sequences. After the DNA was activated, they put it in 3 colored tubes; 1 tube was yellow for control group and the other 2, red and yellow, had restriction enzymes from other bacteria. Restriction enzymes cut up the Lambda DNA so it cannot harm them. It is a defense mechanism for bacteria. We let them sit in a water bath for 40 minutes to let the enzymes do their work. They had made gels with holes, wells, that we put in an electrophoresis apparatus. It is a big tub that has a positive and negative end. We put the gels in the tub with the wells on the negative end. When our enzymes were done working, we took them out of the tubes and put them in the small wells on the gel. They had to put the cut up DNA by the negative side because DNA is negatively charged. We put the power on and the above picture is what it looked like as the electricity was flowing through the electrophoresis apparatus. Below are pictures of what the students discovered. The lines are the DNA that moved in the gel.
