Hershey-Chase experiment
You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.
The Hershey-Chase experiment was a series of experiments conducted in 1952 by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase. It identified DNA to be the genetic material of phages and, ultimately, of all organisms. Before this experiment was conducted, it was suspected that proteins were the genetic material in viruses, not DNA. A phage is a small virus that infects bacteria. It consists of a protein coat that encloses the genetic material. When a phage infects a bacterium, it inserts its genetic material into the bacterium, while its coat remains outside.
In a first experiment, T2 phages with radioactive 32P-labeled DNA infected bacteria. In a second experiment, T2 phages with radioactive 35S-labeled protein infected bacteria. In both experiments, bacteria were separated from the phage coats by blending followed by centrifugation. In the first experiment, most radioactivity was found in the infected bacteria, while in the second experiment most radioactivity was found in the phage coat. These experiments demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material of phage and that protein does not transmit genetic information.
Hershey shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his “discoveries concerning the genetic structure of viruses”
External links
Literature Cited
Hershey, A.D. and Chase, M. (1952) Independent functions of viral protein and nucleic acid in growth of bacteriophage. J Gen Physiol. 1:39-56.
Template:History of biologyde:Hershey-Chase-Experimentit:Esperimento di Hershey-Chase
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
