Experiments that showed genes are made of DNA

Experiments: basic research on living systems, not technology.

Also: Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment, transforming principle, Meselson-Stahl experiment, semiconservative replication

Until the mid-twentieth century many scientists expected genes to be made of protein. Experiments on bacteria and viruses showed that DNA carries hereditary information and then revealed how it is copied. The Hershey-Chase phage experiment is covered under Viruses in genomes.

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genetics

lab genetics 1944

The transforming principle is DNA

Avery, MacLeod and McCarty purified the substance from heat-killed Type III pneumococci that turns harmless unencapsulated bacteria into the encapsulated type. It showed no detectable protein and consisted principally, if not solely, of DNA, and the change it caused was passed on through later generations of bacteria.

As reported in: Avery, MacLeod, McCarty (1944). STUDIES ON THE CHEMICAL NATURE OF THE SUBSTANCE INDUCING TRANSFORMATION OF PNEUMOCOCCAL TYPES. Journal of Experimental Medicine. doi:10.1084/jem.79.2.137

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lab genetics 1958

DNA is copied semiconservatively

Meselson and Stahl labelled the DNA of E. coli with heavy nitrogen and followed it through cell divisions by its density, showing that each new DNA double helix keeps one parental strand and gains one new one, as the Watson-Crick model predicted.

As reported in: Meselson, Stahl (1958). The replication of DNA in Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.44.7.671

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