Recall the experiments done by Frederick Griffith, Avery, MacLeod and McCarty, where $DNA$ was speculated to be the genetic material. If $RNA$, instead of $DNA$ was the genetic material, would the heat killed strain of Pneumococcus have transformed the $R\,-$ strain into virulent strain ? Explain.

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$RNA$ is more labile and prone to degradation (owing to the presence of $2 '$$ OH$ group in its ribose). Hence heat-killed $S$-strain may not have retained its ability to transform the $R$-strain into virulent form if $RNA$ was its genetic material.

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