Recall the experiments done by Frederick Griffith, Avery, MacLeod and McCarty, where DNA was speculated to be the genetic material. If RNA, instead of DNA was the genetic material, would the heat killed strain of Pneumococcus have transformed the
R-strain into virulent strain? Explain.
RNA is more labile and prone to degradation, owing to the presence of 2’OH group in its ribose. Hence, heat-killed S-strain may not have retained its ability to transform the R-strain into virulent form if RNA was its gene’tic material.