Question

The concept of reverse transcription was at first very controversial because it:

A. suggested that RNA could sometimes function as an enzyme.

B. implied that DNA could be translated into protein.

C. showed that viruses could function with an RNA genome.

D. contradicted the "central dogma" that DNA makes RNA.

E. All of these choices are correct.

Answer 1

The concept of reverse transcription was controversial because it contradicted the 'central dogma' of molecular biology by showing that RNA could be turned back into DNA, which is option D.

Step-by-step explanation:

The concept of reverse transcription was at first very controversial because it contradicted the "central dogma" that DNA makes RNA, making the correct answer D. The central dogma of molecular biology, which was first proposed by Francis Crick, states that genetic information flows in one direction: from DNA to RNA to protein. However, the discovery of reverse transcriptase by Howard Temin and David Baltimore showed that viruses could reverse this flow. Reverse transcriptase, a viral enzyme that comes from the virus itself, converts the viral RNA into a complementary strand of DNA. This discovery was significant because it demonstrated that not only can RNA serve as a genetic material, as seen in certain viruses, but it can also be transcribed back into DNA, which goes against the then-accepted principle that DNA could not be synthesized from RNA.