Bacterial transformation and bacteriophage labeling experiments showed that DNA

Question

Bacterial transformation and bacteriophage labeling experiments showed that DNA was the hereditary material in bacteria and in DNA-containing viruses. Some viruses do not contain DNA but have RNA inside the phage particle. An example is the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) that infects tobacco plants, causing yellow/brown spots on the leaves. Two different strains of TMV (red and green) exist that have different forms of a particular protein (one strain has a red color protein and other strain has a green color protein) in the virus particle so that you can distinguish these two strains. It is possible to assemble TMV in vitro (in the test tube) by mixing purified proteins from on strain and RNA from another strain to make a hybrid (a reconstituted) virus. The hybrid virus can then be used to infect tobacco plants to produce a new generation of viruses. Design an experiment to show that RNA acts as the hereditary material in TMV.

Explanation / Answer

We can demonstrate this by creating hybrid viruses with different RNA (ribonucleic acid) strands and protein coats. In this case, create a hybrid virus with large spot protein and small spot RNA. Let this virus to infect a plant and observe the phenotypic characters. If RNA is the genetic material, the infected plant shows small spots produced by viral progeny, if protein is the genetic material the plant shows large spots. Repeat this eperiment by taking reciprocal characters i.e. with small spot protein and large spot RNA

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