In a classic 1952 experiment, biologists Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase labeled
ID: 163001 • Letter: I
Question
In a classic 1952 experiment, biologists Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase labeled two batches of bacteriophages, one with radioactive sulfur (which only tags protein) and the other with radioactive phosphorus (which only tags DNA). In separate test tubes, they allowed each batch of phages to bind to nonradioactive bacteria and inject its DNA. After a few minutes, they separated the bacterial cells from the viral parts that remained outside the bacterial cells and measured the radioactivity of both portions. What results do you think they obtained?Explanation / Answer
In the experiment conducted by Hershey and chase, they showed that when bacteriophage which are composed of both DNA and protein , infect bacteria, then only their DNA material enters into the host bacterium and the proteinaceous coat remains behind. This proved that DNA is the gentic material and not protein.