If bacteria are infected with bacteriophage containing radioactive ____ the bacteria will now be radioactive.

Question

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Radioactive isotopes of phosphate are commonly used as tracers in biological studies due to their involvement in nucleic acid synthesis. Bacteriophages replicate by utilizing the host cell's machinery, synthesizing copies of their viral DNA or RNA. Therefore, when radioactive phosphate is incorporated into the viral nucleic acid, it will also be incorporated into the host bacterium's nucleic acid, making the bacterium radioactive.

If Bacteria Are Infected with Bacteriophage Containing Radioactive ____ the Bacteria