Description
Using an understanding behind cheese production, genetic inheritance, and gel electrophoresis, students will determine genotype of 2 bulls and 3 cows, and decide which combination a dairy farmer should purchase to produce more valuable offspring.
The Cash Cow lab kit allows life science, genetics, and agriculture students to:
- Gain an understanding of how various casein proteins in milk affect the quality and quantity of cheese produced
- Understand the basic structure of DNA and its role in genetic inheritance
- Learn how selective breeding programs work to increase/decrease the frequency of particular alleles
- Comprehend how traits are passed from parent to offspring
- Learn about the existence of genetic polymorphisms
- Cast, load, and run dye samples to connect genotype to phenotype
- Use gel electrophoresis to determine the ideal pairing of bull and cow to produce the highest quality and quantity of cheese
This lab uses color dyes as samples, and is appropriate for middle school life science classes, genetics classes, and agriculture courses (grades 7-12).
Materials Included in each Cash Cow MiniLab:
Each MiniLab contains enough materials for 10 workstations, 2 – 3 students per workstation.
Materials include:
- Eight color dye samples
- Ten 1.5 % Agarose gel cups
- One bottle of 100 mL Tris-Borate-EDTA (TBE) buffer concentrate, enough to make 2L of 1X running buffer
- One bag of 0.65 mL microcentrifuge tubes
- One bag of 2 – 200 μL micropipette tips
- Teacher’s guide
**Please note the following equipment is REQUIRED but not included:
The MiniOne Electrophoresis System
