High School

Griffith's experiments with S. pneumoniae were significant because they showed that traits could be transferred from one organism to another. What else did he find that was significant?

A. Protein could not be the genetic material.
B. The transferred traits were heritable.
C. DNA was the genetic material.
D. A virus made the bacteria pathogenic.
E. Heat kills bacteria.

Answer :

Final answer:

Griffith's experiments showed that traits could be transferred and were heritable, indicating a 'transforming principle,' later identified as DNA, was responsible for heredity.

Explanation:

Frederick Griffith's experiments with Streptococcus pneumoniae, which demonstrated bacterial transformation, were significant for multiple reasons. Griffith worked with two strains of bacteria, rough (R) and smooth (S). The R strain is non-pathogenic, while the S strain is pathogenic and has a capsule that makes it lethal. Griffith's key findings included the observation that when a mixture of live R strain and heat-killed S strain was injected into mice, the mice died, and only the S strain was recovered from them. This indicated that traits from the heat-killed S strain were transferred to the live R strain, making them pathogenic. This process was termed transformation by Griffith, suggesting that some 'transforming principle' was responsible for this heritability of pathogenicity. The correct answer to the student's question regarding what else was significant in Griffith's experiment is b) The transferred traits were heritable. It was later determined that this 'transforming principle' was DNA.

Learn more about Griffith's Experiments here:

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