Question

Which experiment provided definitive proof that DNA replication is semi-conservative?

Options

• Watson and Crick's X-ray crystallography studies

• Chargaff's analysis of base ratios in DNA

• Meselson and Stahl's experiment with E. coli in 1958

• Hershey-Chase experiment with bacteriophages

Answer 1

Meselson and Stahl experimentally confirmed semi-conservative replication in 1958 using E. coli and nitrogen isotope labeling techniques. Their work definitively ruled out the conservative and dispersive models, establishing semi-conservative replication as the correct mechanism.