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So my question has a few sub sections after the main title question.

Firstly, is it possible to replicate a pure sample of an individuals DNA to an amount that is visible to the naked eye?

If possible, how long would this take?

What would be the estimated cost?

How could you preserve the sample once obtained? I.e. Under acrylic or some other medium.

Thank you for any help provided.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Biology.SE! Please take the tour and then go through the help pages starting with How to Ask questions effectively on this site and edit your question accordingly. In particular, each question should be posted separately — this improves the chances that you will get answers for each question and makes the answers more accessible for future users and your last two questions are not biological and so are off-topic for this site. In addition, for the first two questions to be answerable would require more information: how much DNA are you starting with? Visible under what conditions? ⋯ $\endgroup$
    – tyersome
    Commented May 22, 2020 at 15:07
  • $\begingroup$ I think you would greatly benefit from exploring some of the introductory material available online such as Khan Academy. That will help you avoid asking questions that seem to fit this sites criteria for "homework". ——— Finally, we encourage you to always do some research on your own first and then, informed by what you have learned, ask any questions you still have (ideally with references to reliable sources). Thanks! 😊 $\endgroup$
    – tyersome
    Commented May 22, 2020 at 15:13
  • $\begingroup$ Are you only interested in human DNA? There are children's science kits for extracting DNA from onions, strawberries, or other fruit, and vegetables, which produce readily visible amounts of DNA. See for example amazon.com/ScienceWiz-7811AZ-DNA-Experiment-Kit/dp/B001DTD0H2 (I have no connection to the vendor, it's just provided as an example). $\endgroup$
    – Charles E. Grant
    Commented May 22, 2020 at 16:40
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    $\begingroup$ I downvoted this because it appears to be an inquiry about services which might provide a visible lump of DNA (supposedly many copies of a particular human's genome) preserved in the form of a knick-knack conversation piece for a gift. That seems inappropriate for this biology site. $\endgroup$
    – mgkrebbs
    Commented May 22, 2020 at 18:36

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No need to replicate the DNA in a test tube by PCR, there are protocols out there galore to extract enough DNA from buccal swabs or from isolated white blood cells.

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The general steps involve lysing the cells (breaking the cell membrane) in order to get a mix of nucleic acids (some of which you want), sugars, proteins, lipids, and other detritus (which you don't want). Then you separate out this mix with a series of steps of washing, spinning down with a centrifuge, and extraction.

A DNA extraction kit is involved. Here's one from Qiagen, for example. A kit usually contains a mix of salts and buffers specific to the source of DNA, to get as much pure sample back as you can.

You might not start with much DNA, so picking the right kit can help you get back a high enough yield of genetic material to do other experiments.

Kits are often based on ethanol or isopropanol, which precipitates out the DNA from the rest of the gunk. You add some buffer and run it through the centrifuge, removing and discarding what is on top (the "supernatant"). After repeated wash and spin steps, what's left is mostly purified DNA, in visible pellet form.

As a specific example, here is a paper that describes one approach to isolate DNA from human sperm, with a detailed protocol: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486329/

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