Chromatographic Fractionation of Deoxyribonucleic Acids with Special Emphasis on the Transforming Factor of Pneumococcus

Abstract

In the 85 years which have elapsed since Miescher first reported the isolation of the acidic substance “nuclein” from the nuclei of pus cells, several independent approaches have clearly indicated that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), in combination with protein, is the primary chemical material of which chromosomes and genes are constituted. Hotchkiss (1955) has recently summarized in an admirable fashion the chemical, cytological and genetic evidence for the role of DNA as an hereditary determinant. The evidence which is most impressive to the biochemist has come from the findings that the DNA isolated from one strain of a microorganism can transmit heritable properties to another strain of the same microorganism (Avery et al., 1944; Ephrussi-Taylor, 1955a, 1955b; Hotchkiss, 1954; Hotchkiss and Marmur, 1954). This phenomenon has been termed bacterial transformation. It would appear that DNA may not be the only substance capable of carrying genetic information (Fraenkel-Conrat, 1956; Gierer and Schramm,...