At Oxford Science Adventures in October 2015 we made models of DNA from sweets. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It’s the genetic code that determines all the characteristics of a living being. Basically, your DNA is what makes you, you! DNA is a big molecule that looks like a ladder that has been twisted many times.
We used strawberry cables to be the sugar-phosphate backbone, and midget gems of different colours to be the base pairs. We had to be careful that the midget gems of one colour were always paired up with midget gems of another colour. This is because there are 4 types of bases in DNA – G always pairs with C, and T always pairs with A. We made our models using cocktail sticks, which represented the hydrogen bonding between base pairs. Before eating them, we twisted our molecules to make the characteristic spiral or ‘double helix’ shape of DNA.
We used strawberry cables to be the sugar-phosphate backbone, and midget gems of different colours to be the base pairs. We had to be careful that the midget gems of one colour were always paired up with midget gems of another colour. This is because there are 4 types of bases in DNA – G always pairs with C, and T always pairs with A. We made our models using cocktail sticks, which represented the hydrogen bonding between base pairs. Before eating them, we twisted our molecules to make the characteristic spiral or ‘double helix’ shape of DNA.