Question

Give an account of Lederberg's replica plating experiment to show the genetic basis of evolution.

Answer 1

Joshua Lederberg and Esther Lederberg were the two scientists who studied the evolution on the basis of natural selection. The experiment done by the scientists is known as replica plating experiment. A bacteria are grown into isolated colonies on plates. These colonies can be reproduce from an original plate to new plates by "stamping" the original plate with a cloth and then stamping empty plates with the same cloth. Bacteria from each colony are picked up on the cloth and then deposited on the new plates. The hypothesis for the experiment is that the antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria which survived an application of antibiotics, had not developed the resistance due to the exposure to the antibiotics . This is a type of natural and genetic evolution.