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A Seminar ON Evidences of Nucleic Acid AS Genetic Material
A Seminar ON Evidences of Nucleic Acid AS Genetic Material
SEMINAR
ON
AS
“GENETIC MATERIAL”
SUBMITTED BY
PRIYANKA GUPTA
SESSION 2018-2019
DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY
JWALAPUR (HARIDWAR)
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Contents
1. Genetic material 3
7. Reference 10
2
Genetic material
These are those material of a cell or organism that are found in
the nucleus , mitochondria and cytoplasm that play a significant
role in determining the structure and nature of cell substance and
are capable of self-replication and variation.
By the early 1900’s ,many biochemists had performed a variety of
experiments to find out whether protein or nucleic acid was the
genetic material.
Some thought that proteins might be the genetic material as they
were abundant , diverse and complex type of molecules.
But many experiments demonstrated that DNA instead of RNA
and protein is the genetic material in most microorganism and
RNA was found to be the genetic material in some viruses.
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1. Evidence from Bacteria –
(a) Frederick Griffith : “ Bacterial Transformation’’
In 1928 , British Bacteriologist Frederick Griffith gave an experimental
evidence that the DNA was the genetic material .
He conducted a series of experiments using Streptococcus pneumoniae
and mice .
In these experiment, he actually wasn’t trying to identify the genetic
material , but rather trying to develop a vaccine against pneumonia .
He took 2 types of a bacterial strain , that causes pneumonia in humans
and other animals .
(i) R- strain :- It forms rough colonies when grown in petri – dish and lacks
LPS capsule i.e..they are non – virulent means they did not cause any disease
when injected into a mouse .
(ii) S- strain :-It forms smooth colonies when grown in petri – dish and possess
a LPS capsule that protects it from host immune system i.e..they are virulent
means they cause disease when injected into a mice .
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Result : From the 4th step , Griffith concluded that R – strain bacteria must
have taken up from the heat – killed S bacteria and called it a “transforming
principle’’ which allowed R- strain to transform into S –strain and become
virulent .
Result -: From their experiment ,they concluded that DNA is the genetic
material not the protein .
Because , the transformation occurred only when DNA was present in the
extract as in step 1,3 and 4 whereas no transformation occurred in step 2 due to
DNAse enzyme that hydrolyse DNA.
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2. Evidence from Bacteriophage -:
In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase carried out several
experiments on bacteriophage T2 that proved DNA to be the genetic
material of T2, which used E.coli as its host .
Then poured the cell suspension of E.coli onto the growth medium.
After bacterial growth,32P and 35S were incorporated into the bacterial
cell and phages were allowed to infect bacteria.
After infection had taken place,each culture was subjected in a blender and
centrifuged to separate the phage from the bacteria.
Then radioactivity of the phage and cell was measured.
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Fig : Genetic material is transferred by DNA only
Result-:
DNA is the genetic material not protein.
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In 1946 ,Lederberg and Tatum demonstrated that when (F+) strain of
E.coli was mixed with (F-) strain ,then the (F-) cells were converted to
(F+).
Result -:
(F+) / (F-) (F+) / (F+)
From this experiment it was proved that DNA is the genetic material.
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They took 2 different strains of TMV (A,B) and then separate their RNA
from protein coat .
Type A strain – contain RNA of TMV (A) and protein of TMV (B) .
Type B strain_- contain RNA of TMV (B) and protein of TMV (A) .
They reconstituted hybrid viruses by mixing the protein of one strain
with the RNA of the second strain and vice – versa .
When the hybrid or reconstituted viruses were rubbed onto tobacco
leaves , the progeny viruses produced were always found to be of
RNA type .
Thus , the genetic information of TMV is stored in the RNA not in the
protein .
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Reference
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