Question

Choose true or false for the following statements.

1. In the experiment by Avery, Macleod and McCarty, protease destroyed the transforming factor.
2. Hershey and Chase labeled the phage proteins with radioactive sulfur and the phage RNA with radioactive phosphorus.
3. Phage are free living cells.

Answer 1

The statements are all false. Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty's experiment concluded that DNA is the transforming factor, not proteins. Hershey and Chase labeled DNA with radioactive phosphorus and proteins with radioactive sulfur, and phages are viruses that infect bacteria, not free living cells.

Step-by-step explanation:

For the statements provided:

1. True or False: In the experiment by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty, protease destroyed the transforming factor.
2. True or False: Hershey and Chase labeled the phage proteins with radioactive sulfur and the phage RNA with radioactive phosphorus.
3. True or False: Phage are free living cells.

The correct answers are:

1. False. The experiment by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty actually used DNase to destroy the transforming factor, which they demonstrated to be DNA.
2. False. Hershey and Chase did not label phage RNA with radioactive phosphorus; they labeled the phage DNA with radioactive phosphorus (³²P) and the phage proteins with radioactive sulfur (³⁵S).
3. False. Phages, or bacteriophages, are not free living cells; they are viruses that infect bacteria.

Hershey and Chase concluded that DNA is the genetic material since only ³²P labeled DNA, not ³⁵S labeled proteins, was found inside the bacterial cells after centrifugation.