Candy Electrophoresis Lab

In this lab we electrophoresed four reference dyes and four candies: red Mike and Ike's, purple Skittles, green M&Ms, and orange Reeses. The blue reference dye didn't match any of the candies' or references' length. Every dye had only one color band. Also, none of the dyes moved towards the cathode. The purple and red candy had a different dye color. The red and purple areas were also larger than those of the reference dyes. These dyes are probably just variations of the red reference dye. The dyes Citrus red 2 and Fast green FCF would migrate similarly to the dyes in this lab because they have similar structures to the reference dyes.

             

              

Dog food manufacturers may put artifical food colors in dog food to make it look more appealing to buy. Also, people will buy the food if it looks good and has color. Additionally, it could taste good for dogs. Foods I eat that would probably have artificial dyes are chips, candy (like M&Ms), macaroni and cheese, and soda (not too often). Artificial food colors can be preferable to companies rather than natural food dyes because it could be less expensive, taste better, and look appealing to eat. The length of the DNA fragment and the molecules in the dye control what distance the dye migrates. Electricity is the force that helps to move the dyes through the gel. Positive and negative charges at each end of the gel causes the molecules to separate by size. The smaller the DNA fragment, the longer/faster the fragment goes toward the positive charge (because DNA has a negative charge). The opposite happens for large fragments. DNA molecules of the lengths 600, 1000, 2000, 5000 daltons would separate like this: The 5000 wouldn't go far and would be closest to the cathode. The 600 would go the farthest distance. The 1000 would be second and the 2000 would be third, closer to the 5000-length molecule.