Question

How did Hershey and Chase label phage DNA?

Answer 1

Bacteriophage:

1. Phage refers to the viruses that infect bacteria.
2. The genome of a phage contains either DNA or RNA.
3. They have been developed to use as an alternative to antibiotics and are employed in therapy against multi-drug-resistant pathogens.

Labelling of phage DNA:

1. Hershey and Chase needed to study the subsections of phage and thus decided to uniquely label the parts with different isotopes.
2. Radioactive phosphorous-32 was used to label the DNA content whereas radioactive sulfur-35 was used to label the protein parts.
3. They introduced the radioactive elements via separate growth mediums in which the bacteria were allowed to grow.