Alternative Modes DNA replication:
Semiconservative, Conservative, & Dispersive
The Meselsohn-Stahl experiment used density gradient centrigugation to follow the behavior of newly-synthesized DNA strands. The results are shown on the right, in a figure taken from the original 1958 paper.
Homework: The diagrams show the alternative "conservative" and "dispersive" models, and the actual results.
(1) Explain how the data support the semi-conservative model.
Figure ©
2004 by
Griffiths et al. ;
text © 2011 by Steven M.
Carr