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    DNA: The Genetic Material

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    Robert Walusimbi
    The document discusses several key experiments that helped identify DNA as the genetic material. Griffith and Avery found that a substance from heat-killed pathogenic bacteria could transform non-pathogenic bacteria to become pathogenic, indicating the transfer of hereditary traits. Hershey and Chase used radioactively labeled viruses to show that viral DNA, not protein, enters host cells and is required for new virus formation. Meselson and Stahl's experiment provided evidence that DNA replicates semi-conservatively, with each parent strand serving as a template for a new strand.

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    DNA: The Genetic Material

    Uploaded by

    Robert Walusimbi
    375 views3 pages
    The document discusses several key experiments that helped identify DNA as the genetic material. Griffith and Avery found that a substance from heat-killed pathogenic bacteria could transform non-pathogenic bacteria to become pathogenic, indicating the transfer of hereditary traits. Hershey and Chase used radioactively labeled viruses to show that viral DNA, not protein, enters host cells and is required for new virus formation. Meselson and Stahl's experiment provided evidence that DNA replicates semi-conservatively, with each parent strand serving as a template for a new strand.

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    Dna

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    The document discusses several key experiments that helped identify DNA as the genetic material. Griffith and Avery found that a substance from heat-killed pathogenic bacteria could transform non-pathogenic bacteria to become pathogenic, indicating the transfer of hereditary traits. Hershey and Chase used radioactively labeled viruses to show that viral DNA, not protein, enters host cells and is required for new virus formation. Meselson and Stahl's experiment provided evidence that DNA replicates semi-conservatively, with each parent strand serving as a template for a new strand.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    375 views3 pages

    DNA: The Genetic Material

    Uploaded by

    Robert Walusimbi
    The document discusses several key experiments that helped identify DNA as the genetic material. Griffith and Avery found that a substance from heat-killed pathogenic bacteria could transform non-pathogenic bacteria to become pathogenic, indicating the transfer of hereditary traits. Hershey and Chase used radioactively labeled viruses to show that viral DNA, not protein, enters host cells and is required for new virus formation. Meselson and Stahl's experiment provided evidence that DNA replicates semi-conservatively, with each parent strand serving as a template for a new strand.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    DNA: The Genetic Material

    Learning Outcomes

     Describe the experiments that first supported the hypothesis that a cell’s hereditary material is
    located in the nucleus.
     Understand the theory and conclusions associated with the Griffith and Avery experiments using
    Pneumococcus and mice.
     Explain the evidence that supports the identity of DNA as hereditary material.
     Identify the three subunits of DNA and describe how they are put together to construct an intact
    molecule.
     Understand the importance of Chargaff’s rules and the complementary nature of nucleotide
    bases.
     Describe Watson and Crick’s three--dimensional model of DNA based upon Franklin’s X-ray
    crystallography.
     Know what is meant by semi conservative replication of DNA and how it was determined.
     Explain the process of semi discontinuous replication in both strands of the DNA double helix.
     Understand the one gene-one polypeptide hypothesis and the experimental evidence behind it.

    HERSHEY AND CHASE EXPERIMENT

     In the Hershey –Chase experiment, bacterial viruses, called phage were used to demonstrate
    that DNA is the genetic material. The phage used in this experiment consisted of a DNA
    molecule, surrounded by a protein coat.
     When phage infect bacteria, they attach to the surface of the bacterium and inject the DNA into
    the cell. The protein coat remains on the outside of the cell.
     In the first part of the experiment, phage were produced in a medium containing 35S
    radioactively-labelled amino acids. This resulted in a phage population with 35S-labelled
    proteins, but no radioactive label in the DNA.
     The phage were then allowed to infect the bacteria.
     The phage attached to the bacterial cell and injected their DNA, but the radioactively-labeled
    protein coat remained on the outside of the cell.
     The phage produced in these cells contained no radioactivity.
     Vigorous shaking caused the empty protein coats to be removed, but did not interfere with
    production of new phage in the cell.
     In the second part of the experiment , phage were produced in a medium containing 32P-
    labeled deoxyribonucleotides. This resulted in a phage population with 32P-labeled DNA, but no
    radioactive label in the protein.
     When the phage infected the bacteria, the 32P-labeled DNA entered the cell and could be found
    in phage subsequently produced in the infected bacteria.
    This demonstrated that the DNA, but not the protein, carries the genetic information for a new
    generation of phage,

    MESELSON AND STAHL EXPERIMENT

     The Meselson and Stahl experiment provides evidence for semi-conservative replication of the
    DNA molecule where the two parent strands serve as the template for synthesis of new strands.
     In this experiment, bacterial cells were grown for several generations on a medium containing a
    heavy isotope of nitrogen(15N). The DNA in these cells therefore contained “heavy” (15N)
    nitrogen.
     The cells were then transferred to a new medium containing the normal lighter isotope,(14N).
    At various times after the transfer, samples of the bacteria were collected.
     The DNA was then extracted and dissolved in a solution of cesium chloride.
     The samples were then spun rapidly in a centrifuge. When the cesium chloride is centrifuged at
    high speed, a concentration gradient is established in the tube.
     DNA molecules move in the gradient until they reach a place where their density equals that of
    the cesium.
     DNA containing 14N moved to a position in the gradient determined by its density. DNA
    containing 15N is denser than the containing 14N, so it sank to a lower position in the cesium
    gradient.
     After one generation in 14N medium, the bacteria yielded a single band of DNA with a density
    between that of 14N-DNA, indicating that only one strand of each duplex contained 15N.
     After two generations in 14N medium, two bands were obtained, one of intermediate density
    ( in which one of the strands contained 15N) and one of low density (in which neither strand
    contained 15N)

    Meselson and Stahl concluded that replication of the DNA duplex involves building new molecules by
    separating parent strands and then adding new nucleotides to form the complementrary strand on each
    of these templates.

    Griffith and Avery experiments

    In the Griffith and Avery experiments, Griffith studied two strains of the bacterium Streptococcus
    pneumonia, Bacteria of the S(smooth) strain can cause pneumonia in mice: they are pathogenic because
    they have a capsule that protects them from an animal’s defencse system. Bacteria of the R(rough)
    strain lack a capsule and are non pathogenic. To test for the trait of pathogenicity, Griffith injected mice
    with the two strains as shown below:

    Living S cells Mouse dies


    Living R cells Mouse healthy
    Heat killed S cells Mouse healthy
    Mixture of heat killed S cells and living R cells Mouse dies, in blood sample: living S cells are
    found that can reproduce, yielding more S cells.
    Conclusion, Griffith concluded that the living R bacteria had been transformed into pathogenic S
    bacteria by an unknown, heritable substance fron the dead S cells that allowed the R cells to make
    capsules.

    Membranes
    Learning Outcomes

     Understand the biochemistry of phospholipids and how they are organized into membranes.
     Know the function of each of the four components of a cell membrane.
     Differentiate among diffusion, facilitated transport, facilitated diffusion, osmosis, and active
    transport.
     Describe the six classes of membrane proteins and how each interacts with the membrane.
     Describe solution and solute movement into and out of a cell under hyperosmotic, hypoosmotic,
    or isosmotic conditions.
     Explain and give examples of endocytosis, phagocytosis, pinocytosis, receptor-mediated
    endocytosis, and exocytosis.
     Understand the importance of selective permeability in biological systems.
     Describe the operation of the sodium potassium pump and the proton pump.
     Understand the importance of coupled channels, cotransport, and countertransport.

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