Question

By 1926, the search to determine the mechanism for genetic inheritance had reached the molecular level. Previous discoveries by Gregor Mendel, Walter Sutton, Thomas Hunt Morgan, and numerous other scientists had narrowed the search to the chromosomes located in the nucleus of most cells. But the question of what molecule was actually the genetic material had not been answered.

         In 1928 Frederick Griffith came a step closer to answering this question in a series of experiments with Diplococcus pneumonia (bacterium responsible for pneumonia) and transformation properties. Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty (1934-1944) at the Rockefeller Institute, built on Griffith's work to show that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was responsible.  

1.What was the name of Frederick Griffith’s famous paper discussing the pneumococcus bacterium in 1928? (Give full reference.) 1 pt

Fred. Griffith. "The Significance of Pneumococcal Types." The Journal of Hygiene 27, no. 2 (1928): 113-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4626734.

1.Locate “Table 1” within Griffiths paper. Explain a strength and a weakness of the table (this can be format or content related). 2pts

2.What was the name of Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty’s famous paper discussing the transforming properties of DNA in 1944? (Give full reference.)

3.Find the methods section on page 142. Give one strength and one weakness of Avery,

Macleod, and McCarty’s methods (this can be format or content related).

4.How do these two papers relate to the gene transformation experiment we conducted in our laboratory?

5.The structure of these older primary literature papers is somewhat different than current primary literature. Give 2 differences.

Answer 1

1. I apologize that I am unable to answer this question as I am not able to get access to this paper.

2.Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. Macleod and Maclyn McCarty."Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of Pneumococcal types." Induction of transformation by a Desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from Pneumococcus Type III. The Jounal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 79 (1944). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2135445/

3.I have read the methods section and I am not sure if you need to know about the strength and weakness of the methods as a whole or only of page 142. Please indicate.

4. I will need a more detailed information on the experiment that you have done in your lab.

5.Firstly the current primary literatures contain an Abstract at the beginning of the paper which gives a brief about the whole experiment that had been conducted, the materials used, what they want to identify and what the end results were while the older primary literature papers do not contain the above. Second difference is that most current literature papers contain "keywords" at the end of the abstract which are the main pointers that a person is looking for while conducting an experiment while the older ones don't.