Shown to the right is a figure from Hershey and Chase\'s famous paper on T2 bact

Question

Shown to the right is a figure from Hershey and Chase's famous paper on T2 bacteriophage [AD Hershey and M Chase. 1952. J Gen Physiol. 36(1):39-56] that we discussed in class. The graph shows the percent of radioactive sulfur or phosphorus (S or 32P) in the supernatant in samples that40 were blended for varying amounts of time. 1. 1006 Infected bactepia 0 Extpacellulan 535 80 60 E 40 F Extracellulap P32 20 Also shown in this graph are data points indicating the survival of infected bacteria over time. Min. 0 12 3 Running time in blendar A. How would you interpret the "infected bacteria" data points, and why is this data an important control in this experiment? (answer in s5 sentences) (1 point)

Explanation / Answer

A) Hershey's experiment was conducted in the year 1952 to prove that DNA is the genetic material of bacteria. To prove this they infected bacteria with bacteriophages labelled with radioactive sulphur S35 and phosphorous P32. Phosphorous got adhered to DNS and sulphur to the cell membrane. When these bacteria were placed in a blender, the extracellular concentration of sulphur increased significantly over phosphorous. The percent of total infected bacteria served as a control. It's presence indicate that the results are not due to any external contamination.

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