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Avery-MacLeod-McCarty
Spencer Lazar & Matthew Lindenbaum
Historical Background
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Oswald Avery
 Canadian born
 Graduated from Colgate University, and received MD from Colombia University
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Colin MacLeod
 Canadian born
 Attended McGill University
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Maclyn McCarty
 Attended Stanford University, and graduated Johns Hopkins Medical School
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They conducted their research at US Naval Lab from 1936-1944
Experiment
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Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty expanded the work of Frederick
Griffith
 Griffith conducted his experiments in 1928
 He inserted two strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae (virulent strain type III-S
and non-virulent type II-R) into mice
 Found that bacteria was transformed, but he did not know the reason why or
what the transformation factor was
 Utilized similar techniques in order demonstrate transformation
Procedure
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Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty’s goal was to discover what the transformation factor
was.
 They used specific enzymes to remove the possible transforming factors
individually.
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When Avery, MacLeod , and McCarty mixed the heat killed, virulent III-S with the
non-virulent II-R strain they saw that the non-virulent strain was transformed into
the virulent strain
 The virulent properties were passed on
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At the time, it was widely hypothesized that protein was the transformation factor,
and not DNA
Contribution to field of biotechnology
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Proved DNA was the transforming factor
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Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty shifted the focus from proteins to DNA
 Future scientists focus on DNA because Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty set
the precedent
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Their work was not acknowledged until years after their research.
 It was not until after their experiments were repeated until people finally accepted
that their results were valid
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The Nobel Foundation later expressed their regret for not awarding them a
Nobel Piece Prize
Works cited
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcyul43ac5c
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http://www.austincc.edu/emeyerth/dnagen.htm
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http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/avery-macleodmccarty_experiment#Reception_and_legacy
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http://www.genome.gov/25520250
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http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/resources/timeline/1944_Avery.php