Blog #2

In science one of the building blocks of matter is protein. Protein is a necessity for
human life but has to come in moderation because too much of it or too little can
harmfully affect a human body. Throughout the discovery of DNA, scientist believed
that it was too simple of a molecule to be able to carry that much complex
information and believed that proteins showed much more variation (Yourgenonme
1). It was argued for a large amount of time and eventually several experiments
showed that it was in fact DNA, not protein that carries genetic information. One
experiment worked with something called the transforming principle. A man
named Frederick test strains of Streptoccus Pneumoniae bacteria. One had smooth
walls and killed mice while the other had rough walls and wouldnt kill mice when
injected. The smooth wall strain had a sugar coating that protected the strain from
the mouse immune system, whereas the rough walled strain did not. He then
followed with several experiments. His colleagues and he then followed through
destroying components one by one to identify which component was the
transforming principle. They found that the sugar coating, RNA, and protein was
not the transforming principle and that DNA turned out to be what they were
looking for all along.
Another experiment that helped in the DNA experiments the Hershey-Chase
experiments. Hershey and Chase used a virus called T2 to investigate if the genetic
information was passed on through proteins or DNA (Yourgenome 1). The virus can
hijack bacterial cells and use that to make copies of itself. The two scientist knew
that the instruction for making copies has to be in the DNA or protein, but wasnt
sure which one. They added a radioactive label and found the viruses that were
then produced were also radioactive; however, when they replaced the DNA with
protein they found the new copies were not radioactive. This concludes that the
DNA carries the instructions to make a new virus.
The two experiments here both proved the general same concept in very different
ways. Science throughout history has continued to prove itself wrong and right time
and time again. Over time it takes several experiment from several groups of people
in order to come up with a new scientific conclusion that can change the course of
history, yet a new one is happening every day. In early history the scientist were
confused by what carried the characteristics of the cells and until these two
experiments along with several other experiments scientists were not sure. After
one experiment others are sure to follow such as What does protein do if it doesnt
carry the genetic material? or how does DNA carry the genetic material and what
causes mutations? After every experiment there are 100 more that can follow and
sometimes there is 100 that can counteract the current experiment.
Works Cited
"Clackamas High School." <i>Stratton, Lorraine / DNA</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan.
2016.
"Revealing DNA as the Molecule of Life." <i>Revealing DNA as the Molecule
of Life</i>. Yourgenome, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

"The New Genetics." <i>Chapter 2: RNA and DNA Revealed: New Roles, New
Rules:</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.