Table of Contents
What did Oswald Avery Research?
Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. Avery was one of the first molecular biologists and a pioneer in immunochemistry, but he is best known for the experiment (published in 1944 with his co-workers Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty) that isolated DNA as the material of which genes and chromosomes are made.
What was Avery trying to determine from his work?
In 1932 Avery turned his attention to an experiment carried out by a British microbiologist named Frederick Griffith. Avery, along with many other scientists, set out to determine the chemical nature of the substance that allowed transformation to occur.
What did Avery conclude caused transformation?
What did Avery conclude caused transformation? DNA was the transforming factor. The harmless bacteria would not have been transformed, and the mice would have lived.
How did Oswald Avery help Watson and Crick?
Avery’s suggestion was not completely outlandish. Erwin Chargaff also immediately championed Avery’s work and began the chemical study of DNA, which provided Watson and Crick with the key to their discovery of the double helix structure.
How did the Avery and Griffith experiment work?
Avery and his colleagues showed that DNA was the key component of Griffith’s experiment, in which mice are injected with dead bacteria of one strain and live bacteria of another, and develop an infection of the dead strain’s type.
What did Avery use to show that DNA was responsible for transformation?
To show that it was DNA rather than some small amount of RNA, protein, or some other cell component that was responsible for transformation, Avery and his colleagues used a number of biochemical tests.
What was the result of Oswald Avery’s experiment?
The experiment opened up new possibilities and research fields for following biologists. Avery was awarded the Copley Medal for his bacterial transformations, but neglected by many scientists and organizations for his work.
What did the experiments of Avery MacLeod and McCarty show?
Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty showed that DNA (not proteins) can transform the properties of cells, clarifying the chemical nature of genes. Avery, MacLeod and McCarty identified DNA as the “transforming principle” while studying Streptococcus pneumoniae, bacteria that can cause pneumonia.