Index >> Identification of the genetic material

Identification of the Genetic Material
When it became evident that the chromosomes were the organs of heredity, because (i) they formed the only link between two generations; (ii) they carried linearly arranged genes; (iii) they occurred in every organism in specific number and had specific morphology for a particular species; and (iv)any variation in their number or morphology affected the phenotype of the species. Then, various attempts were made by early molecular geneticists to identify the physical and chemical nature of genes. But, the genes were found so minute structures that their physical identity remained almost impossible. However, the extensive chemical analysis of chromosomes of different organisms have revealed that chromosomes contain proteins and nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) and it was thought that genes might have either proteins or nucleic acids as their component molecules.