DNA Inheritance
Frederick Griffith
- 1928 - Griffith studied the effects of virulent, or virus-causing, bacteria and nonvirulent bacteria injected into mice. The mice that received the virulent bacteria died, while the ones that received the nonvirulent bacteria lived. When Griffith exposed mice to a mixture of virulent and nonvirulent bacteria, the mice still died. Griffith determined that some molecular "transforming" agent must have been active when the mice were injected. He believed that the transforming agent was an inheritance molecule.
To learn more about Griffith's transformation experiments, visit the link below.
Oswald Avery
- 1944 - By exploring Griffith's transformation experiments, Avery discovered that DNA was in fact the inheritance molecule, serving as the molecular material of chromosomes and genes.
To learn more about Avery and his work, visit the links below.
(1865) Basic Genetics: Mendel
(1869) Finding DNA: Miescher
(1909 and 1929) Breaking Down DNA: Levene
(1928 and 1944) DNA Inheritance: Griffith and Avery
(1950) DNA Base Pairing: Chargaff
(1953) DNA Structure: Franklin, Wilkins, and Gosling; and Watson and Crick
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