While doing research on deep-sea vents, you discover a very simple new life form. After some initial analysis, you find that this life form contains small fragments of DNA, small complementary RNA fragments, and proteins. Fortuitously, you collected two strains, one that is purple and one that is yellow. You wish to discover which of those three molecules could be the genetic material. You heat-kill some of the purple life form and subject three different homogenized samples to different enzymes: DNase, RNase, or protease. Which sample will NOT transform yellow into purple?

a. RNase

b. protease

c. All will cause transformation.

e. None will cause transformation.

a. RNase

Explanation:

RNA-based microbiological analyses, e. g., transcriptome and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, require a relatively large amount of high quality RNA. RNA-based analyses on microbial communities in deep-sea hydrothermal environments often encounter methodological difficulties with RNA extraction due to the presence of unique minerals in and the low biomass of samples. In the present study, we assessed RNA extraction methods for deep-sea vent chimneys that had complex mineral compositions.

The correct answer is option c. "All will cause transformation".

Explanation:

In this experiment, two strains of a new life form are analyzed to see if small fragments of DNA, small complementary RNA fragments or proteins are the genetic material. Since one strain is yellow and one purple, the yellow strain was heat-killed and subjected to DNase, RNase, or protease. The only enzyme that will not cause that the yellow sample is transformed into purple will be the DNase, since DNA carries the genetic information, but RNA and proteins are the ones that will result in changes on the phenotype if they are broken down. Therefore, both RNase and protease will cause transformation.