The purpose of this experiment is to find the relationship between the number of amylase gene copies that an individual has, the concentration of amylase and how this is related to the diets of their ancestors. The hypothesis states that if our ancestors consumed high starch diets, then the amylase gene copy number will be higher, consequently our amylase concentration will also be higher. The absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of the coloured molecule that is in solution. So, from this I created a calibration curve, using different amylase concentrations and absorbance. Using PCR, I amplified an area of the AMY1A gene. After this, I used gel electrophoresis to separate PCR fragments based on their size. The 100 base
