Question

The term 'Nuclein' for the genetic material was used by:

• A. Franklin
• B. Meischer
• C. Chargaff
• D. Mendel

Answer 1

The correct option is B Meischer

Friedrich Meischer is credited with the discovery of DNA in 1869. He identified an acidic substance (DNA) in the nucleus of pus cells and called it “nuclein”.

Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin used X-ray diffraction analysis of DNA fibres to get insights into the structure of DNA. Watson and Crick proposed the famous double helix model for the structure of DNA based on the X-ray diffraction data produced by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.

Chargaff performed chemical analysis of DNA. According to Chargaff's rule, the total amount of adenine (A) is equal to the total amount of thymine (T) and similarly, the total amount of cytosine (C) is equal to the total amount of guanine (G), hence, A = T and C = G. So, the total amount of purines is equal to the total amount of pyrimidines.

Therefore, Purines = Pyrimidines
A + G = C + T

Mendel conducted hybridisation experiments on garden peas and proposed the laws of inheritance.