Believe it or not we really ARE brothers! Boy, 17, builds DNA testing machine in his bedroom to find out why his younger sibling has ginger hair



Fred Turner, 17, from Yorkshire built a DNA testing machine in his bedroom

Built the polymerase chain reaction machine from items he found at home

Wanted to see if his brother had the mutated gene that causes ginger hair

Experiment was a success and proved why his brother is ginger and he isn't

Fred was named the UK's Young Engineer of the Year for his design



With Fred's straight brown hair and Gus's curly ginger mane, the teasing the Turner brothers got from their friends was rather predictable.

Less predictable, however, was Fred's response to it.

After putting up with endless jokes about the boys having different fathers, 17-year-old Fred settled the matter once and for all – by designing his very own DNA testing machine.

Fred Turner, 17, (right) built a DNA testing machine in his bedroom to establish why his brother, Gus, 14, (left) is ginger

The budding scientist used it to analyse Gus's DNA, proving that the 14-year-old had the genetic mutation which gives a person ginger hair.

And as well as silencing his friends, Fred's ingenuity earned him a top engineering prize – and a place to study biochemistry at Oxford.

He said: 'After years of jokes from my friends saying me and Gus have different dads, I built the machine to test once and for all why my brother is ginger and I'm not.

'The theory is that red hair appears in people with a mutated gene. They have two copies of a recessive gene which causes a mutation in the MC1R protein in DNA.

'I built the machine so I could put that theory to the test and see for myself if Gus has that mutation, which would explain why Gus has ginger hair.'

Fred built the machine from items he found around his house, including an old video player

The machine, known as a Polymerase Chain Reaction machine, cost Fred just £250 to build - compared to the £3,000 he would have had to fork out for a new one

Fred, from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, spent a year and £400 building the polymerase chain reaction machine, one component of which was an old video player he found at home. He got the idea after reading about a similar one built by a man in America.

Fred describes the device, which would cost £3,000 to buy new, as a 'DNA photocopier'. It amplifies the DNA strands so they can be analysed in a lab.

Once he had built the machine, Fred collected cells from the inside of his brother's cheek with a swab, then released the DNA from these cells by heating them to 95C in a solution

Next, the DNA was added to an enzyme and a primer and put in the machine for a two-hour cycle.

Finally he sent the sample to a lab. Analysis there showed that Gus's DNA did have the ginger mutation in its sequencing code.

Fred fitted in his work on the machine alongside studying for A-levels in biology, maths, further maths, physics and chemistry.

He has now been named UK Young Engineer of the Year, with celebrity judge Ben Miller praising him for his 'outstanding project'.

The bright pupil credits his mother Louise, a 49-year-old account manager, and father David, a 50-year-old self-employed businessman, with fuelling his enthusiasm for science as a child.

FRED TURNER EXPLAINS HOW HIS MACHINE WORKS:

Scientists were so impressed that they named Fred the UK's Young Engineer of the Year Speaking about his award winning invention, Fred Turner described it as a 'DNA photocopier'.

He explained that his first task was to extract buccal cells from his brother's cheek which he did by getting Gus to swirl saltwater around his mouth and spit it out.

He then added various chemicals and put it into the centrifuge of his machine.

He said: 'When you spin it really fast in this tiny tube all the cells collect in the bottom in what is called a pellet of cells.

'After taking it out and putting a solution in I heat the tube to 95 degrees centigrade, further breaking down the cells and releasing the DNA into the solution.

'There is a further centrifuge step which essentially removes broken bits of the cells that don't contain DNA, they go to the bottom of the solution.

'In an even smaller tube you put the solution, that has just got DNA in it, into the machine along with an enzyme and a primer and set the machine to go through the cycle.

'The cycle takes two hours and after, while there is nothing you can see because DNA is transparent, there is more DNA than you started with - you have effectively amplified the DNA.

'It is a DNA photocopier, amplifying the DNA you have to see what you've got.

'If you start with one copy you will end up with a billion copies after approximately 30 cycles (the two hour process).

'Once the cycle is finished you have two options depending on what gene you are targeting - sequencing and electrophoresis.

'To identify my brother's mutation I opted for sequencing which I couldn't do at home so I had to send the sample to a lab.

'The sequencing gives you a genetic code of As, Gs, Cs, Ts. The ginger mutation is just one letter different in the code, called an SNP, and when I sent Gus's sample away it was identified.

'I already knew what I was looking for because you can look up the genome on the internet so when I got my sample back I could see the mutation that causes Gus's ginger hair.'

Fred was able to use the machine to prove that Gus has the genetic mutation that causes ginger hair

Fred will now go to Oxford University to study biochemistry



