The Experiment That Discovered DNA By Accident

Lichen are weird organisms to begin with, but what you probably didn't know is that they are the source of dyes that helped kickstart modern biology and chemistry.

One such dye, made from a lichen called Roccella tinctoria is especially useful as it can stain DNA, elastic fibers, copper proteins and more. Early biologists used it in a series of experiments that helped pave the way to where we are today.

The dye was responsible for the discovery of the nucleus, chromosomes and even helped confirm inheritance patterns described by Mendel.

In this video we use the dye to preform 2 experiments. We visualize the steps of mitosis in onion roots tip squashes, and polytene chromosomes in fruit fly larva.

Scibus adventures: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8TsKsWmKqV5uqxGcRzC6Fg

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