If you can’t find a pack of pipe cleaners with 6 colors in it, that’s okay. You can use the same colors for different sections of your DNA model if necessary. You can find pipe cleaners at your local craft store or department store, or you can order some online.
For example, you could choose blue and pink pipe cleaners for the outer strands and green, yellow, purple, and red pipe cleaners for the inner strands. The 2 colors for the outer strands will represent sugar (deoxyribose) and phosphate, while the 4 colors for the inner strands will be the cytosine, thymine, guanine, and adenine.
When you’re finished, you should have one long, twisted strand made up of 2 different color pipe cleaners.
For example, if you used pink and blue pipe cleaners to make the first outer strand, you’ll want to use pink and blue pipe cleaners to make the second outer strand as well.
Since you’ll be using 4 pipe cleaners and cutting each one into 5 equal pieces, you should end up with 20 pieces in total.
For example, you could use red for adenine, blue for thymine, green for cytosine, and yellow for guanine. After you’ve assigned the colors, you can accurately pair the complementary bases. Adenine always pairs with thymine, while guanine pairs with cytosine. So, if you have a red (adenine) pipe cleaner on one side, put a blue (thymine) pipe cleaner in the same spot on the other side, and so on. Once you’ve paired up the inner and outer strands, keep them separated so you don’t get all of the pipe cleaners mixed up.
You want the ends of the inner strands that are extending off of the outer strands to all be going in the same direction.
If you don’t have clear tape, that’s OK. You can use different tape instead. It may just be a little visible once your model is finished.
If your model starts to lose its shape after a while, just twist and compress it with your hands again.
You can find Styrofoam balls at your local craft store or online.
You can find water-based paint at your local craft store or department store. You can also order some online.
When you’re finished painting each ball, set it aside to dry on a sheet of newspaper or a paper towel. You should have 6 red balls, 6 blue balls, 6 yellow balls, and 6 orange balls.
When you’re finished, the first rung should have a white ball on each end and a red and yellow ball in the middle.
The angle of the toothpicks doesn’t need to be precise. As long as they’re sticking up at an angle and they’re angled in opposite directions, your model will work.
Since you angled the toothpicks in the white balls, the green balls should be sitting on top of the white balls at an angle as well.
In order to accurately represent the complementary base pairs, make sure to always pair red with yellow and blue with orange between the 2 strands. You should also insert a toothpick into each white ball so they’re angled in opposite directions like you did with the first rung.
At this point you’ll be able to see the beginning of your DNA model’s helix shape.
If you want your model to stand up on its own, attach the rung at the bottom to a Styrofoam block using toothpicks.
