The first generation of replication in the Meselson and Stahl experiment disproved which theory of replication?
A)Semiconservative
B)Conservative
C)Dispersive
D)None-it took more than one generation to disprove the theory

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The first generation of replication in the Meselson and Stahl experiment disproved the conservative theory of replication, which suggested that the original double-stranded DNA molecule remains intact and serves as a template for the synthesis of a completely new double-stranded DNA molecule, while the newly synthesized double-stranded DNA molecule is composed entirely of new nucleotides. In the experiment, however, the intermediate band observed for the first generation of replication was consistent with a semiconservative model, where each daughter DNA molecule contains one parental strand and one newly synthesized strand. The dispersive model, which suggests that both strands of the original double-stranded DNA molecule are broken down and then mixed to form two new double-stranded DNA molecules with interspersed parental and newly synthesized nucleotides, was also disproved in later generations of replication in the experiment.

The First Generation of Replication in the Meselson and Stahl