Question

what was the hershey and chase experiment?

Answer 1

In the Hershey-Chase experiment, bacterial viruses, called phage, were used to demonstrate that DNA is the genetic material.

Answer 2

it was a series of experiments started in 1952 by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase that helped to comfirm that DNA was the genetic material

Answer 3

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Hershey_Chase_experiment.png

Viral proteins were marked with sulphur and viral dna was marked with phosphorus, the viruses infected E.coli and replicated, after replication, phosphorus, not sulphur was present. Proving that DNA not protein was the "building block" of life

Answer 4

When a virus infects a bacterium, it injects its genetic material into the cell. The viral genes produce new viruses, which eventually destroy the bacterium from the inside out.
Hershey and Chase wanted to see which part of a bacterial virus (either the protein coat or the DNA) was responsible for entering the bacterium and causing the infection... and this in turn would determine if genetic material was contained in either protein or DNA. Like williamsdj01 said, they grew cultures of viruses and marked either the protein coat or the DNA with radioactive markers. Protein coats were marked with sulfur, while DNA was marked with phosphorus. They exposed some bacteria to the two types of marked viruses, then separated the viruses from the bacteria and tested the bacteria for radioactivity. Almost all of the radioactivity they detected in the bacteria was from phosphorus, which was the marker they attached to DNA. So, this experiment supports the idea that genetic material is found in DNA, not in protein!