Editing Molecular biology (section)

==Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment==
{{Main|Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment}}
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The Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment was a landmark study conducted in 1944 that demonstrated that DNA, not protein as previously thought, carries genetic information in bacteria. [[Oswald Avery]], [[Colin Munro MacLeod]], and [[Maclyn McCarty]] used an extract from a [[Strain (biology)|strain]] of [[pneumococcus]] that could cause [[pneumonia]] in mice. They showed that [[genetic transformation]] in the bacteria could be accomplished by injecting them with purified DNA from the extract. They discovered that when they [[Digestive enzyme|digested]] the DNA in the extract with [[DNase]], transformation of harmless bacteria into virulent ones was lost. This provided strong evidence that DNA was the genetic material, challenging the prevailing belief that proteins were responsible. It laid the basis for the subsequent discovery of its structure by Watson and Crick.