why was it believed earlier that proteins could be the genetic material
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Answer:
researchers thought protein was the genetic material because; proteins were macromolecules with great heterogeneity and functional specificity. Little was known about nucleic acids. The physical and chemical properties of DNA seemed too uniform to account for the multitude of inherited traits.
So, which was the genetic molecule housing all the hereditary information? Many scientists of the day actually thought it was protein because there are 20 different amino acids for building a protein polymer, while DNA polymers are made of only four nucleotide bases.
t now seems certain that RNA was the first molecule of heredity, so it evolved all the essential methods for storing and expressing genetic information before DNA came onto the scene. However, single-stranded RNA is rather unstable and is easily damaged by enzymes.