The Beadle and Tatum experiment, conducted in the 1940s, was groundbreaking in molecular biology, leading to the "one gene-one enzyme" hypothesis. This experiment demonstrated the direct link between genes and metabolic functions in organisms. Beadle and Tatum used the bread mold Neurospora crassa as their model organism. They irradiated the mold with X-rays to induce random mutations and then grew the mutated mold on minimal media, which only contained basic nutrients. Normally, wild-type Neurospora can synthesize all the amino acids, vitamins, and nucleotides it needs to survive, but the mutants could not. They supplemented the minimal media with specific nutrients, like vitamins or amino acids, to determine which biochemical pathway was disrupted. For instance, a mutant unable to grow on minimal media but able to grow when the amino acid arginine was added indicated that the mutation affected the arginine synthesis pathway. Although the "one gene-one enzyme" hypothesis has been refined (we now know genes can encode non-enzymatic proteins, RNA, or multiple polypeptides through alternative splicing), the experiment laid the foundation for molecular biology and genetic research. Read this topic and make a comment to show that you read thia topic?
The Beadle and Tatum experiment, conducted in the 1940s, was groundbreaking in molecular biology, leading to the "one gene-one enzyme" hypothesis. This experiment demonstrated the direct link between genes and metabolic functions in organisms.
Beadle and Tatum used the bread mold Neurospora crassa as their model organism. They irradiated the mold with X-rays to induce random mutations and then grew the mutated mold on minimal media, which only contained basic nutrients. Normally, wild-type Neurospora can synthesize all the amino acids, vitamins, and nucleotides it needs to survive, but the mutants could not. They supplemented the minimal media with specific nutrients, like vitamins or amino acids, to determine which biochemical pathway was disrupted. For instance, a mutant unable to grow on minimal media but able to grow when the amino acid arginine was added indicated that the mutation affected the arginine synthesis pathway.
Although the "one gene-one enzyme" hypothesis has been refined (we now know genes can encode non-enzymatic proteins, RNA, or multiple polypeptides through alternative splicing), the experiment laid the foundation for molecular biology and genetic research.
Read this topic and make a comment to show that you read thia topic?
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