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Biology 2, Fourth Quarter, Pair SW1 - The Search for the Genetic Material
Computer-Aided Activity - Visit http://www.dnai.org/timeline/ and explore the
various important scientists contributions and fill in the blanks with their
contributions to the discovery of DNA as the genetic material.

1869 Friedrich Miescher worked on (1)_____________________________ he obtained from

bandages at the local hospital. Lysis and alkalinization of these cells produced an acidic
substance with high phosphorus content from the nuclei of all the cells studied. He called this
substance (2)__________________, and thought that its purpose was for
(3)_________________________________________________________________.

1904 - Thomas Hunt Morgan established the chromosomal theory of inheritance using
Drosophila melanogaster or (4)_______________________. These organisms were known to be
prolific breeders, producing hundreds of offspring and a new generation every two weeks.
They also had four pairs of chromosomes: 3 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair of sex
chromosomes. After many breeding experiments, he discovered a mutant male which had
(5)_______________________ instead of the wild-type (or usual) red colored eyes. Upon
performing many more experiments, he discovered that this trait is carried in the (6)
__________________ - chromosome, leading him to the discovery of sex-linked genes.

1928 Frederick Griffith studied Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria that cause pneumonia
in mammals. He had two strains the pathogenic (7)_______________________ strain which had
capsules to protect themselves from the mouses immune system and the harmless
(8)__________________ strain or mutant bacteria with no capsules. Summarize the experiment
below:
TREATMENT RESULTS
Mice injected with living S (9)
cells
Mice injected with living R (10)
cells
Mice injected with heat- (11)
killed S cells
Mice injected with heat- (12)
killed S cells mixed with
live R cells (13)

CONCLUSION (14)

1944 Oswald Avery, Maclyn McCarty, and Colin MacLeod set to work discovering the
identity of Griffiths transforming substance. They purified various chemicals from heat-killed
S cells, combined these with R cells, and checked for transformation.
Summarize the experiment below:
SUBSTANCES TESTED RESULTS
(Lysate from S-cells)
Sugar coat + Protein + DNA (15)
+ RNA
Protein + DNA + RNA (16)

RNA (17)

DNA (18)
CONCLUSION (19)

1949 Erwin Chargaf already knew that DNA was a polymer of nucleotides consisting of a
combination of four nitrogenous bases (A, T, G, C), deoxyribose sugar, and a phosphate group.
He analyzed the composition of the bases in the DNA of of various species and compared
them with each other. He found that DNA composition varies between species and that
(20)___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________. These are now known as Chargafs rules.

1951 Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins worked on

(21)___________________________________________________________ that can provide information
about the shapes and structures of molecules. When a stream of rays is directed at a
crystallized substance, some of them are diffracted or scattered. These can also interfere with
each other producing spots of different intensities that can be recorded on film producing a
unique signature for that structure. Working on data from a particular DNA fiber, she was able
to (22)___________________________________________________________________.

1952 Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase studied viruses that attack bacteria called
(23)__________________________. The two components that make up these viruses are
(24)___________________________ and (25)__________________________. The question they wanted
answered was which of these two biomolecules are responsible for infecting cells and
reprogramming them to produce viruses. They distinguished between the two by
(26)___________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________. They then waited long enough for these to be assimilated into the
phages biomolecules and spun them in Waring blenders and centrifuged them.
Summarize the experiment below:
TREATMENT RESULTS
Tube with 35S (27)
label
Tube with 32P (28)
label
CONCLUSION (29)

1953 James Watson and Francis Crick built on the work of previous researchers. For
instance, Phoebus Levene found that (30)_______________________________________, but Oswald
Averys findings showed that (31)___________________________
____________________________________. Chargaffs rules for DNA composition can be summarized
simply as %A = (32)_____ and %G = (33)_________. Linus Pauling discovered that similar to
many proteins, DNA had a (34)_________________________ structure.
Rosalind Franklins X-ray photos further showed the following measurements:
(35)_________________________. From these, Watson and Crick deduced that the structure of
DNA had to be a (36)_______________ helix. When playing around with paper models of the
bases, they decided that the only possible pairing combinations would be
(37)___________________ and (38)__________________. The two helices run (39)__________________
to each other because of certain bond angles and base pair proximity. The conclusion to their
groundbreaking paper stated that (40)_____________________________________
___________________________________. After this, Francis Crick proposed the Central Dogma
which states that
(41)___________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________.
1957 Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl hypothesized that a new DNA strand is
made from copying the old. This type of replication is described as being
(42)__________________. They used the organism (43)__________________ and the isotope
(44)__________________. This isotope is used by the organisms in creating
(45)__________________. They then transferred the organisms to fresh media and used normal
nitrogen. They took samples of the organisms every time their populations doubled and
compared these samples with organisms grown using normal nitrogen. They isolated DNA and
centrifuged it.
Summarize the results of the experiment below:
TREATM CONDITIONS OF GROWTH OF RESULTS UPON CENTRIFUGATION AND
THE BACTERIA
ENT INTERPRETATIONS
Tube 1 Bacteria grown in medium (46)
15
with only N (heavy) isotopes
(parental gen)
Tube 2 Bacteria grown first in 15N (47)
medium until population
doubles and transferred to
14
N medium (1st gen)
Tube 3 Bacteria grown first in 15N (48)
medium until population
quadruples and transferred to
14
N medium (2nd gen)
Tube 4 Bacteria grown in culture with (49)
only 14N isotopes
Conclusi (50)
on