Why were ³²P and ³⁵S chosen for use in the Hershey–Chase experime...

Question

Why were ³²P and ³⁵S chosen for use in the Hershey–Chase experiment? Discuss the rationale and conclusions of this experiment.

Accepted Answer

Hello. Welcome back. The next question says which of the following radioactive elements was used by Hershey and Chase to make the DNA of PT two radioactive in their experiment. So let's again, just touch base with um the purpose of that experiment as we recall from our content videos um which was to determine whether DNA or protein was the genetic material. Um It was thought at the time that protein was the more likely candidate with its greater dr diversity and its 20 amino acids. So they studied this Pha T two because they knew it had just a protein coat and DNA and this PHA attached the bacterial cell and injected material which replicated itself and then lied the cell. So they looked at labels radioactive labels that would distinguish between protein and DNA to see which was the material that went inside the cell and replicated itself. So our question is asking which radioactive element was used to make the DNA radioactive. And the answer to that is choice B phosphorus because phosphorus is found in DNA but not in protein. So if you use radioactive phosphorus, you know, you'll be labeling just the DNA when we look at our other answer. Choices. Uh choice A is sulfur. And that's not our answer because sulfur was used to label the protein sulfur is found in protein, not DNA. So they used radioactive sulfur as their other element in this experiment to label the protein and choices C and D nitrogen and carbon are not the answer because those elements are found in both protein and DNA and therefore wouldn't be candidates to distinguish between them. So again, which is the following radioactive elements used by Hershey and chase to make the DNA of HT two radioactive. And that's choice. B phosphorus. See you in the next video.

Why were ³²P and ³⁵S chosen for use in the Hershey–Chase experiment? Discuss the rationale and conclusions of this experiment.

Key Concepts

Hershey-Chase Experiment

Radioactive Isotopes

Genetic Material

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