Meselson–Stahl experiment
experiment
The Meselson–Stahl experiment is an experiment by Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl in 1958 which supported Watson and Crick's hypothesis that DNA replication was semiconservative. In semiconservative replication, when the double-stranded DNA helix is replicated, each of the two new double-stranded DNA helices consisted of one strand from the original helix and one newly synthesized. It has been called "the most beautiful experiment in biology". Meselson and Stahl decided the best way to trace the parent DNA would be to tag them by changing one of its atoms. Since nitrogen is present in all of the DNA bases, they generated parent DNA containing a heavier isotope of nitrogen than would be present naturally. This altered mass allowed them to determine how much of the parent DNA was present in the DNA after successive cycles of replication.
Hypothesis
Three hypotheses had been previously proposed for the method of replication of DNA.
In the semiconservative hypothesis, proposed by Watson and Crick, the two strands of a DNA molecule separate during replication. Each strand then acts as a template for synthesis of a new strand.
The conservative hypothesis proposed that the entire DNA molecule acted as a template for the synthesis of an entirely new one. According to this model, histone proteins bind to the DNA, revolving the strand and exposing the nucleotide bases (which normally line the interior) for hydrogen bonding.
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