give meselson and stahl's experiment to prove that DNA replication is semiconservative mode of replication
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The Meselson and Stahl Experiment Described
Meselson and Stahl tested the hypothesis of DNA replication. They cultured bacteria in a 15N medium. 15N is a heavy isotope of nitrogen so the DNA synthesized is of heavy density. They then shifted the bacteria to a 14N medium, DNA was isolated at different times corresponding to replication cycles 0, 1, and 2. After one replication cycle, the DNA was all of intermediate density. This rules out the conservative replication model, which predicts that both heavy density DNA and light density DNA will be present, but none of intermediate density will be present. This result is consistent with the semiconservative replication model, which predicts that all DNA molecules will consist of one 15N-labeled DNA strand and one 14N-labeled DNA strand. The result does not rule out the dispersive replication model, which also predicts that all DNA will be of intermediate density, consisting of interspersed double-stranded 15N-labeled and 14N-labeled segments.
After two replication cycles, two bands of DNA were seen, one of intermediate density and one of light density. This result is exactly what the semiconservative model predicts: half should be 15N-14N intermediate density DNA and half should be 14N-14N light density DNA. This result rules out the dispersive replication model, which predicts that after replication cycle 1, the DNA density of all DNA molecules will gradually become lower, so no intermediate density DNA should remain at replication cycle 2. The semiconservative model is correct.
