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.