Final answer:
Griffith's transformation experiments showed that nonpathogenic bacteria could be transformed into pathogenic bacteria through exposure to a heat-killed pathogenic strain. The 'transforming principle' was later identified as DNA.
Step-by-step explanation:
Frederick Griffith's transformation experiments in 1928 showed that live, nonpathogenic Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria could be transformed into pathogenic bacteria through exposure to a heat-killed pathogenic strain. He concluded that a substance, which he called the 'transforming principle,' had been passed from the dead pathogenic bacteria to the live nonpathogenic bacteria. Later experiments by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty in 1944 confirmed that the transforming principle was DNA.