DNA is the genetic material

Many biologists despite the earlier experiments of Griffith, Avery and others, still believed that protein, not DNA, was the hereditary material in a cell. As eukaryotic chromosomes consist of roughly equal amounts of protein and DNA, it was said that only a protein had sufficient chemical diversity and complexity to encode the information required for genetic material. In 1952, however, the results of the Hershey-Chase experiment finally provided convincing evidence that DNA is the genetic material.

Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase (1952) conducted experiments on bacteriophages that infect bacteria. Phage T2 is a virus that infects the bacterium Escherichia coli. When phages (virus) are added to bacteria, they adsorb to the outer surface, some material enters the bacterium, and then later each bacterium lyses to release a large number of progeny phage. Hershey and Chase wanted to observe whether it was DNA or protein that entered the bacteria. All nucleic acids contain phosphorus, and proteins contain sulphur (in the amino acid cysteine and methionine). Hershey and Chase designed an experiment using radioactive isotopes of Sulphur (35S) and phosphorus (32P) to keep separate track of the viral protein and nucleic acids during the infection process. The phages were allowed to infect bacteria in culture medium which containing the radioactive isotopes 35S or 32P. The bacteriophage that grew in the presence of 35S had labelled proteins and bacteriophages grown in the presence of 32P had labelled DNA.

The differential labelling thus enabled them to identify DNA and proteins of the phage.

Hershey and Chalse mixed the labelled phages with unlabelled E. coli and allowed bacteriophages to attack and inject their genetic material. Soon after infection (before lysis of bacteria), the bacterial cells were gently agitated in a blender to loosen the adhering phase particles. It was observed that only 32P was found associated with bacterial cells and 35S was in the surrounding medium and not in the bacterial cells. When phage progeny was studied for radioactivity, it was found that it carried only 32P and not 35S (Fig. 5.2). These results clearly indicate that only DNA and not protein coat entered the bacterial cells. Hershey and Chase thus conclusively proved that it was DNA, not protein, which carries the hereditary information from virus to bacteria.