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Practice Problems For Molecular Biology, Session 1: DNA Structure, Classic Experiments

Griffith performed an experiment infecting mice with two strains of pneumonia-causing bacteria: a virulent smooth strain (S) and a harmless rough strain (R). He found that samples A and C caused death and recovery of live S bacteria, indicating they contained live S bacteria. Sample B did not cause death or recovery of bacteria, indicating it contained heat-killed S bacteria. The Meselson-Stahl experiment showed that DNA replicates in a semi-conservative manner. They grew E. coli in media containing the heavy isotope nitrogen-15 then transferred to light nitrogen-14 media. After one generation, DNA separated into two bands of equal density, and after two generations DNA separated into three bands -

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58 views2 pages

Practice Problems For Molecular Biology, Session 1: DNA Structure, Classic Experiments

Griffith performed an experiment infecting mice with two strains of pneumonia-causing bacteria: a virulent smooth strain (S) and a harmless rough strain (R). He found that samples A and C caused death and recovery of live S bacteria, indicating they contained live S bacteria. Sample B did not cause death or recovery of bacteria, indicating it contained heat-killed S bacteria. The Meselson-Stahl experiment showed that DNA replicates in a semi-conservative manner. They grew E. coli in media containing the heavy isotope nitrogen-15 then transferred to light nitrogen-14 media. After one generation, DNA separated into two bands of equal density, and after two generations DNA separated into three bands -

Uploaded by

EUNAH Lim
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Practice Problems for Molecular Biology, Session 1: DNA Structure, Classic Experiments

Question 1

In 1928, Griffith performed a series of experiments where he infected mice with two different strains of
pneumonia-causing bacteria (S. pneumonia): the smooth/virulent, disease causing S strain and the harmless
rough/ non-virulent R strain. You have three unknown samples (A/ B/ C) of S. pneumonia and want to
characterize them. You inject these samples into mice both individually and in combination. You then obtain blood
samples from the injected mice and culture the bacteria present. You also record whether the mice live or die.
Your observations are summarized in the following table.

Set 1 Sample injected Response of the Type of strain recovered from


mice mice
1 A Dead Live S strain
2 B Live None
3 C Live Live R strain
4 A+B Dead Live S strain
5 A+C Dead Live R and live S strains
6 B+C Dead Live R and live S strains

a) Assuming that each sample (A, B, and C) contained only one type of bacterial strain, what type of S.
pneumonia is found in each sample? Choose from live smooth/virulent, heat-killed smooth/virulent, live
rough/non-virulent, or heat-killed rough/non-virulent. Provide an explanation for your classification.

Sample A:

Sample B:

Sample C:

Question 2
The Meselson-Stahl experiment suggested that DNA replicates in a semi-conservative manner. E. coli cells were
15 14
grown for several generations in a media with N. These E. coli cells were then transferred into a N media and
14
allowed to replicate their DNA. DNA was extracted from the cells grown in N-containing media and separated by
cesium chloride density centrifugation. In tube 1 below, you see the band formed by the DNA isolated from cells
15
grown exclusively in N media. On the schematic below, draw the band(s) that you would expect in tubes 2 & 3 if
the DNA duplex is copied by a semi-conservative mode of replication.

Tube 1 Tube 2 Tube 3

14
N
15
N

Cells grown only in Cells grown in Cells grown in


15 15 15
N-containing media N-containing media and then N-containing media and then
14 14
in N-containing media for one in N-containing media for two
generation generations
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu

7.01SC Fundamentals of Biology


Fall 2011

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