DNA Model Instructions

What you need:

· Red licorice pieces. - Cut into 2-3 Centimeter pieces

· Black licorice pieces. - Cut into 2-3 Centimeter pieces

· 4 different colors of Mike and Ikes.

· Two pieces of yarn

· One needle

· Toothpicks

1. Take one piece of yarn and sew the licorice pieces on. One black one red one black one red… and do the same to the other piece of yarn.

Make sure your candy strings look similar!

Label which color represents the sugar molecules and which represents the phosphate molecules. Write this down on your paper.

2. Lay the two chains down side by side so pieces of the same color are next to each other.

3. Count the number of sugar molecules you have in one chain (you should have the same number in both chains). You need to have the same number of toothpicks.

4. Divide the Mike and Ikes into their four different colors. Label names to the each of the four colors to represent the nucleotide bases - adenine, cytosine, guanine or thymine.

For example:

A for Adenine. T for Thymine. C for Cytosine. G for Guanine.

A is red T is green C is yellow G is orange. Write this on your paper

(you choose what colors you want them to be.)

5. Pair the bases on the toothpicks. Remember A can only be paired with T and G can only be paired with C. Make sure the right colors are matching.

6. Join the two chains together so they look like the rungs of a ladder. Push each end of the tooth pick into the sugar molecules. (look at which one you labeled as the sugar molecule.) Your candy can be in any order you want. Just make sure that each tooth pick has one T and one A or one C and one G.

7. Hold the two ends of the ladder and twist it slightly. This will make a twisted ladder and look like a DNA model. Congratulations!

DNA Labels

Phosphate Molecule_________________

Sugar Molecule_________________

A________________

G________________

T________________

C________________