Remember: Each lecture is composed of "inputs" (what you need to learn) and "outputs" (what you need to complete for a grade). This section should take you about 3 (THREE) hours to complete. This is the equivalent of coming to a one hour lecture three times a week.

INPUT

Who likes candy?! The following diagram comes from a wikihow page on how to make an edible DNA model

If you are a hands-on learner, we suggest getting the ingredients and trying this activity!

1. Assemble your ingredients: 4 different colored marshmallows, each representing a base- Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine. Licorice ropes to represent the sugar phosphate backbone. Toothpicks to represent the covalent bonds between the bases and the sugar phosphate backbone, or to represent the hydrogen bonds between the bases.

candy dna: 4 different colored marshmallows 2 pieces of licorice

2. Construct your DNA molucule. Make sure that Adenine only bonds with Thymine, and Guanine only bonds with Cytosine. Twist the licorice to make it into a double helix. Then EAT!!!

double helix model of dna with marshmallows and licorice

If you enjoyed that activity (and the candy), you could try this: use candy and toothpicks to make molecules like glucose, fatty acids, or amino acids! Here is a picture to get your started:

red = oxygen atom (has 2 bonds = 2 toothpicks)

green = chlorine atom (has 1 bond = 1 toothpick)

black = carbon atoms (has 4 bonds = 4 toothpicks)

purple = nitrogen atom (has 3 bonds = 3 toothpicks)

yellow = sulfur atom (has 2 bonds = 2 toothpicks)

glucose_model.pdf

different molecules made with candy representing the atoms and toothpicks for bonds

PRACTICE

OUTPUT

complete Quiz 2 in Canvas

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. N. Plowes 2018.