Question

Oswald Avery heat-treated S cells and then split them into proteins, DNA, and RNA. He then repeated Griffith's experiment by mixing each part of the heat-treated S cells with living R cells. He found living S cells in the samples containing destroyed proteins and destroyed RNA, but he did not find living S cells in the samples containing destroyed

DNA. What idea did his findings support?

Answer 1

Avery's findings supported the idea that DNA was the genetic material responsible for bacterial transformation. By repeating Griffith's experiment with heat-treated S cells, Avery was able to show that the transforming substance was not destroyed by heat, which meant that it was not a protein or an RNA molecule. Instead, Avery found that the transforming substance was DNA, which suggested that DNA was the genetic material responsible for bacterial transformation. Therefore, Avery's findings supported the idea that DNA was the genetic material responsible for the transfer of genetic information from one generation of bacteria to the next.