Question

Which of the following isotopes were used in the Hershey-Chase experiments?

• A. $ \,{}^{32}S, \,{}^{30}P$
• B. $ \,{}^{31}S, \,{}^{29}P$
• C. $ \,{}^{35}S, \,{}^{32}P$
• D. $ \,{}^{34}S, \,{}^{33}P$

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

To know the chemical nature of genetic material Hershey and Chase performed experiment on T2 bacteriophage and E. coli. Hershey - Chase used radioactive isotope $ \,{}^{35}S$ of sulphur and $ \,{}^{32}P$ of phosphorus. Sulphur radioactivity was seen only in proteins and phosphorus radioactivity was seen only in nucleic acid DNA.