Create a DNA Model

DNA is a short nickname for deoxyribonucleic (say: dee-OK-see-ri-bo-new-klee-ik) acid. It carries all of the information about how a living thing will look and function. Think of it like a set of instructions inside your body’s cells that tells it how to build you!

DNA looks like a twisting ladder and is made up of four chemical bases called nucleotides (say: NEW-klee-uh-tydes) - adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). These bases pair up with each other to form base pairs — A with T and C with G.

Genes are made up of DNA. Genes determine your traits which are features and characteristics about you. For example what color your hair and eyes are and how tall or short you are. You get half your genes from your mom and half from your dad, which is why you might look similar to them. 

Did you know?

  • Human beings may look different, but 99.9% of our DNA is the same

  • If one person's DNA was unraveled and placed end to end, it would stretch from Pluto and back.

  • Your DNA is 50% the same as a cabbage

Design Challenge:

Become a Microbiologist by creating a DNA model to explore the structure of DNA and how it works.

  • What does DNA do?

  • What is the shape of DNA?

  • What are the four bases in DNA?

  • What are the DNA base-pairing rules?

Materials included in kit:

  • Construction Paper

  • Lab Notebook

  • Markers & Pencil

  • Pipe cleaners (5 different colors, 2 of each color)

  • Scissors

Build Instructions:

Build instructions provided by Pale Blue Marbles

Prepare your materials

Figure 1: Four Piles of bases with labels.

  1. Choose a color for your DNA backbone (we chose black)

  2. Choose four colors for your DNA bases (we chose blue, green, red and yellow)

  3. Set aside the pipe cleaners for the backbone

  4. Cut the pipe cleaners for your bases into segments around 5 cm long

  5. On your construction paper, make four piles of bases and add a label to each: adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine (or you can use A, G, C, T) - See Figure 1

Build the first strand of DNA

Figure 2: Backbone pipe cleaner with bases twisted on.

  1. Take one of the DNA backbone pipe cleaners and twist the bases (in any order) onto it at regular intervals. - See Figure 2

    • If you want a longer molecule, twist additional backbone strands together and continue twisting bases onto the backbone.

Build the second DNA strand

Figure 3: Use the DNA base-pairing rules to create the second backbone strand.

  1. Remember the DNA base-pairing rules:

    • A= T AND G =C

  2. Take another backbone pipe cleaner and twist bases onto the second strand, using the first strand as a guide and following the base-pairing rules. - See Figure 3.

  • For example, if you made the first strand with A-C-G-T-T-A you would need the second strand to have T-G-C-A-A-T.

Make a double helix

Figure 4: Join the bases-pairs together.

  1. Once you have completed the second strand, you can zip up the DNA by twisting the base pairs together - See Figure 4.

  2. You can make a right-handed double helix by twisting the backbone: holding the top with your left hand and the bottom with your right, twist your right hand to the right and your left hand to the left.

  3. Build a DNA model complete! 

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