UNIT THREE: GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY(Text from Modern Biology, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)1

Chapter Ten (DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis)Chapter Ten (DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis)Chapter Ten (DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis)Chapter Ten (DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis)

SECTIONSECTIONSECTIONSECTION ONE: DISCOVERY OF DNAONE: DISCOVERY OF DNAONE: DISCOVERY OF DNAONE: DISCOVERY OF DNAGRIFFITH’S EXPERIMENTSIn 1928, Frederick Griffith was studying a bacterium called

Streptococcus pneumoniae

. He was trying to develop a vaccine against a disease-causing or vvvvirulentirulentirulentirulentstrain of the bacterium.Each virulent bacterium is surrounded by a capsule made of polysaccharidesthat protects it from the body’s defense systems. In a virulent strain, the bacteriagrows in ssssmooth-edged colonies and are called the

strain. A second strain growsinto rrrrough colonies and lacks a capsule, so it does not cause pneumonia.He used the two strains of bacteria in a series of four experiments. Theyprovide information about the hereditary material.In Experiments 1 and 2, he injected the mice either live R or live S cells intothe mice. He discovered that only S cells killed the mice. In his third experiment, heinjected the mice with heat-killed S cells, and the mice lived. The first threeexperiments were controlled.His fourth experiment was his critical experiment. He injected the mice withlive R cells and heat-killed S cells. The mice died. From these four experiments, heconcluded that the heat-killed virulent bacterial cells release a hereditary factorthat transfers the disease-causing ability to the live harmless cells. This type of transformation of genetic material from one cell to another cell or from one organismto another organism is called transformationtransformationtransformationtransformation.

UNIT THREE: GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY(Text from Modern Biology, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)2AVERY’S EXPERIMENTSAmerican researcher Oswald Avery and his colleagues set out to test whetherthe transforming agent in Griffith’s experiment was protein, RNA, or DNA. They usedenzymes to separately destroy each of the three molecules in heat killed

cells.They used a protease enzyme to destroy protein in heat-killed cells in the firstexperiment, an enzyme called RNase to destroy RNA in the second experiment, andan enzyme called DNase to destroy DNA in the third experiment. Then, theyseparately mixed the three experimental batches of heat-killed S cells with live Rcells and injected mice with the mixtures.He and his group found that the cells missing protein and RNA were able totransform R cells into S cells and kill the mice. However, the cells missing DNA couldnot and the mice survived. They concluded that DNA is responsible for transformationin bacteria.HERSHEY-CHASE EXPERIMENTTwo American researches, Martha Chase and Alfred Hershey, tested whetherDNA or protein was the hereditary material viruses transfer when viruses enter abacterium. Viruses that infect bacteria are called bacteriophagesbacteriophagesbacteriophagesbacteriophages. Hershey andChase used radioactive sulfur to label protein and radioactive phosphate to labelDNA. They then allowed the labeled phages to separately infect

E. coli

bacteria. In

UNIT THREE: GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY(Text from Modern Biology, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)3the next step, they removed the phage coats from the cells in a blender. In the thirdstep, they used a centrifuge to separate the phage from the

E. coli

. They found thatall of the viral DNA and little of the protein had entered the

E. coli

cells. Theyconcluded that DNA is the hereditary molecule in all viruses.SECTION TWO: DNA STRUCTURESECTION TWO: DNA STRUCTURESECTION TWO: DNA STRUCTURESECTION TWO: DNA STRUCTUREDNA DOUBLE HELIXIn the 1950s, a young Americanbiologist, James Watson, teamed up withBritish graduate student Francis Crick atCambridge University in England to try todetermine the structure of DNA. By 1953,they proposed that DNA is made up of twochains that wrap around each other in theshape of a double helix. Their final modelwas correct and explained how DNA couldreplicate.They relied on other scientists’work to develop their DNA model. Part of that work was X-ray diffractionphotographs of DNA crystals, produced byresearchers Rosalind Franklin and MauriceWilkins.In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkinsreceived the Nobel Prize in Medicine fortheir work on DNA. Rosalind Franklin diedin 1958 and could not be named in theaward.

SECTION 1 REVIEWSECTION 1 REVIEWSECTION 1 REVIEWSECTION 1 REVIEW1.1.1.1. How did Griffith’s experiments show that a hereditary factor was involved in bacterialtransformation?2.2.2.2. Describe how the contributions of Avery and his colleagues revealed that DNA isresponsible for transformation in bacteria.3.3.3.3. How did the Hershey and Chase experiment produce evidence of DNA, and not protein, isthe hereditary material in viruses.CRITICAL THINKING4444.... Why did heat kill Griffith’s S bacteria?5555.... What were the essential differences between the methods and results of Griffith andAvery’s experiments?6666.... What might Hershey and Chase have concluded if they had found both

P and

S in thebacterial cells?