On one side of the "metal" you notice a coating that appears to be organic. Because of Jesse's history at Roswell, I become curious as to the nature of the substance. If it came from a living organism, it should contain DNA and protein. You decide to have the mysterious coating analyzed to determine if it contains DNA and if it's human DNA.

During this investigation you will complete a three sections.
     In the first part, you will learn about the methods involved in the replication of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Then you will review the technique, cycle sequencing, used to determine the nucleotide sequences in a strand of DNA. 
     In Part 2, you will submit two nucleotide sequences to a database for analysis. Based on the results, you will make conclusions regarding the source of the DNA. 
     Finally, in Part 3, you will show the relationship between DNA, RNA and protein. The assignment will be to first determine the complementary sequence of a mRNA strand that corresponds to a portion of a DNA strand. Then, you will decode the mRNA into the primary structure of the protein (sequence of amino acids). 

After DNA has been isolated from a tissue sample, the amount of DNA in the sample must be amplified before its nucleotide sequence can be determined. During the amplification process, the DNA is replicated by a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

When a substantial amount of DNA has been produced using the PCR technique, it is possible to determine nucleotide sequences in the DNA through the use of the cycle sequencing.

- Read about the extraction process by visiting the links below. 
- Visit the animated polymerase chain reaction site above and complete the Activity 1.a Worksheet. 
- Read about DNA sequencing online (links below). Then visit the animated cycle sequencing site above and complete the Activity 1.b Worksheet. 
- Submit the worksheet for the above activities to your teacher and proceed on to Activity 2.