Chapter 27, Problem 2S

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The reason how the polysaccharide capsule found in the virulent strain of the bacteria is responsible for the cause of pneumonia in mice and justification that $\text{DNA}$ is the genetic material as explained in the Frederick Griffith experiments.

Introduction:

Frederick Griffith conducted the experiments in mice and used two strains of bacteria for infecting the mice namely the rough and smooth strains. The rough strain of the bacteria “Streptococcus” did not cause infection in the mice whereas the smooth strain of the mice has a polysaccharide capsule layer which causes infection in the mice.