Suppose Meselson & Stahl Had Observed the Following Data in Their

question 23

Multiple Choice

Suppose Meselson & Stahl had observed the following data in their famous experiment involving a switch from medium containing ¹⁵N to ¹⁴N. What would they have concluded about the nature of DNA replication?

• A) They still would have concluded that DNA replication is semiconservative, i.e., each double helix contains one parental strand and one newly synthesized strand.
• B) They would have concluded that DNA replication is conservative, i.e., one double helix contains only the parental strands, while the other contains only newly synthesized DNA.
• C) They would have concluded that DNA replication is dispersive/random, i.e., each strand of each double helix contains a mixture of parental and newly synthesized sequences.
• D) They would have been unable to distinguish which is correct.

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Definitions:

Unexpectedly High Earnings

Unexpectedly high earnings refer to a company's reported profits that significantly exceed analysts' forecasts or the company's own guidance.

Abnormal Price Change

A significant variation in the price of a security or trading instrument that cannot be explained by market fundamentals and might be attributed to extenuating circumstances or events.

Selection Bias

Selection bias is a distortion in statistical analysis resulting from the method of collecting samples, potentially causing results to not be representative of the wider population.

Market Efficiency

The degree to which market prices fully reflect all available information and expectations, enabling securities to be priced appropriately.