Final answer:
Phoebus Levene concluded that DNA consisted of four nucleotides linked by phosphodiester bonds, fundamental in leading to the discovery that DNA is the genetic material. His work, despite inaccuracies, was crucial in further developments by other scientists leading to the understanding of DNA's structure and genetic function.
Step-by-step explanation:
Phoebus Aaron Theodore Levene, after decades of research, concluded that DNA is composed of four nucleotides linked by phosphodiester bonds, although he mistakenly believed that the nucleotides repeated in a uniform pattern. His work was critical in understanding the chemical nature of DNA, eventually leading the scientific community to recognize DNA as the genetic material, not proteins. While he was incorrect about the uniformity of the nucleotide sequence, later research by scientists such as Hershey, Chase, and Chargaff built upon his findings, demonstrating the importance of DNA's structure and varying base composition across species.
Levene's discoveries laid a foundational part of the puzzle that would lead to the acceptance of DNA carrying genetic information. His identification of the nucleotides and their connection through phosphodiester bonds helped to dispel the belief that DNA was too simple to be the genetic material.
Although the tetranucleotide theory was flawed, Levene's contributions to nucleic acid chemistry were invaluable for subsequent researchers, such as Watson and Crick, in their discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, coming to understand that these long polymers are indeed the 'stuff of genes'.