There were three models of replication possible from such a scheme: conservative, semi-conservative, and dispersive. In conservative replication, the two original DNA strands, known as the parental strands, would re-basepair with each other after being used as templates to synthesize new strands; and the two newly-synthesized strands, known as the daughter strands, would also basepair with each other; one of the two DNA molecules after replication would be “all-old” and the other would be “all-new”. In semi-conservative replication, each of the two parental DNA strands would act as a template for new DNA strands to be synthesized, but after replication, each parental DNA strand would basepair with the complementary newly-synthesized strand just synthesized, and both double-stranded DNAs would include one parental or “old” strand and one daughter or “new” strand. In dispersive replication, after replication both copies of the new DNAs would somehow have alternating segments of parental DNA and newly-synthesized DNA on each of their two strands.
• Conservative Model: In this model the two parental DNA strands are back together after replication has occurred. That is, one daughter molecule contains both parental DNA strands, and the other daughter molecule contains DNA strands of all newly-synthesized material.
• Semiconservative Model: In this model the two parental DNA strands separate and each of those strands then serves as a template for the synthesis of a new DNA strand. The result is two DNA double helices, both of which consist of one parental and one new strand.
• Dispersive Model: In this model the parental double helix is broken into double-stranded DNA segments that, as for the Conservative Model, act as templates for the synthesis of new double helix molecules. The segments then reassemble into complete DNA double helices, each with parental and progeny DNA segments interspersed.
To determine which model of replication was accurate, a seminal experiment was performed in 1958 by two researchers: Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl.
Meselson and Stahl
Meselson and Stahl were interested in understanding how DNA replicates. They grew E. coli for several generations in a medium containing a “heavy” isotope of nitrogen (15N) that is incorporated into nitrogenous bases and, eventually, into the DNA. The E. coli culture was then shifted into medium containing the common “light” isotope of nitrogen (14N) and allowed to grow for one generation. The cells were harvested and the DNA was isolated. The DNA was centrifuged at high speeds in an ultracentrifuge in a tube in which a cesium chloride density gradient had been established. Some cells were allowed to grow for one more life cycle in 14N and spun again.
During the density gradient ultra centrifugation the DNA was loaded into a gradient (Meselson and Stahl used a gradient of cesium chloride salt, although other materials such as sucrose can also be used to create a gradient) and spun at high speeds of 50,000 to 60,000 rpm. In the ultracentrifuge tube, the cesium chloride salt created a density gradient, with the cesium chloride solution being denser the farther down the tube you went. Under these circumstances, during the spin the DNA was pulled down the ultracentrifuge tube by centrifugal force until it arrived at the spot in the salt gradient where the DNA molecules’ density matched that of the surrounding salt solution. At the point, the molecules stopped sedimenting and formed a stable band. By looking at the relative positions of bands of molecules run in the same gradients, you can determine the relative densities of different molecules. The molecules that form the lowest bands have the highest densities.
DNA from cells grown exclusively in 15N produced a lower band than DNA from cells grown exclusively in 14N. So DNA grown in 15N had a higher density, as would be expected of a molecule with a heavier isotope of nitrogen incorporated into its nitrogenous bases. Meselson and Stahl noted that after one generation of growth in 14N (after cells had been shifted from 15N), the DNA molecules produced only single band intermediate in position in between DNA of cells grown exclusively in 15N and DNA of cells grown exclusively in 14N. This suggested either a semi-conservative or dispersive mode of replication. Conservative replication would have resulted in two bands; one representing the parental DNA still with exclusively 15N in its nitrogenous bases and the other representing the daughter DNA with exclusively 14N in its nitrogenous bases. The single band actually seen indicated that all the DNA molecules contained equal amounts of both 15N and 14N.
The DNA harvested from cells grown for two generations in 14N formed two bands: one DNA band was at the intermediate position between 15N and 14N and the other corresponded to the band of exclusively 14N DNA. These results could only be explained if DNA replicates in a semi-conservative manner. Dispersive replication would have resulted in exclusively a single band in each new generation, with the band slowly moving up closer to the height of the 14N DNA band. Therefore, dispersive replication could also be ruled out.
Meselson and Stahl’s results established that during DNA replication, each of the two strands that make up the double helix serves as a template from which new strands are synthesized. The new strand will be complementary to the parental or “old” strand and the new strand will remain basepaired to the old strand. So each “daughter” DNA actually consists of one “old” DNA strand and one newly-synthesized strand. When two daughter DNA copies are formed, they have the identical sequences to one another and identical sequences to the original parental DNA, and the two daughter DNAs are divided equally into the two daughter cells, producing daughter cells that are genetically identical to one another and genetically identical to the parent cell.
