Final answer:
The hypothesis suggesting that proteins could be the genetic material due to their structural diversity is the Proteose hypothesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The hypothesis that contributed to the idea that protein is the genetic material because, with its 20 different amino acids, protein structure could be highly variable, is b. Proteose hypothesis.
This concept derived from the understanding that the high variability in protein structures due to the diverse chemistries of amino acids could provide the necessary complexity to account for genetic traits. The assumption was that DNA, with its simpler structure, might not contain enough information to account for the inheritance of traits.
However, later research, including the works of Avery, McCarty, and McLeod, as well as the Hershey-Chase experiment, unequivocally demonstrated that DNA was indeed the bearer of genetic information, relegating the role of proteins to that of structural and functional molecules as dictated by the central dogma of DNA-protein synthesis.