Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) was a British medical officer and geneticist. In 1928, in what is today known as Griffith's experiment, he discovered what he called a transforming principle, which is today known to be DNA. He was born in Hale, England and attended Liverpool University where he studied genetics.

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  • Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) was a British medical officer and geneticist. In 1928, in what is today known as Griffith's experiment, he discovered what he called a transforming principle, which is today known to be DNA. He was born in Hale, England and attended Liverpool University where he studied genetics. In his younger days he worked for the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, the Thompson Yates Laboratory, and the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis. In 1910 he was hired by the British government to work for the Ministry of Health under Arthur Eastwood. The government spent money sparingly in times of expected war, so the laboratories Griffith worked in were primitive. However, his creativity and inquisitive mind allowed him to excel in his scientific exploration. One of his friends claimed that "he could do more with a kerosene tin and a primus stove than most men could do with a palace."The famous experiment was done when Griffith was trying to make a vaccine to prevent pneumonia infections in the "Spanish flu" influenza pandemic after World War I, by using two strains of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium. The smooth strain had a polysaccharide capsule and was virulent when injected, causing pneumonia and killing mice in a day or two. The capsule is a slimy layer on the cells' surface that allows the bacteria to resist the human immune system. The rough strain did not cause pneumonia when injected into mice (it was avirulent), since it lacked a capsule. When the virulent S strain was heated to kill it, and then injected into mice, it produced no ill effects. However, when dead S strain mixed with live R strain was injected into the mouse, the R/S mouse died. After isolating bacteria from the blood of the R/S mice, Griffith discovered that the previously avirulent R bacteria had acquired capsules. The bacteria isolated from the mice infected with the mixture of live R and heat-killed S were now all of the S strain, and maintained this phenotype over many generations. Griffith hypothesized that some "transforming principle" from the heat-killed S strain converted the R strain into the virulent S strain. Griffith was killed at work in his laboratory in 1941, along with longtime friend and bacteriologist William M. Scott in London as a result of an air raid in the London Blitz. It wasn't until several years later that Griffith's "transforming principle" was identified as DNA by Oswald Theodore Avery, along with coworkers Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty, in 1944. He was the uncle of John Stanley Griffith, a winner of the Royal Society's Faraday Medal. (en)
  • Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) était un médecin anglais, qui découvrit en 1928 la transformation génétique chez les bactéries. Le principe transformant ainsi mis en évidence ne fut identifié que plus tard : il s'agit de l'ADN. Catégorie:Naissance en 1871 Catégorie:Décès en 1941 Catégorie:Généticien britannique (fr)
  • Frederick Griffith (ur. 1877 lub 1881, zm. 1941 w Londynie) — brytyjski lekarz i naukowiec, który w 1928 r. zbadał jako pierwszy i opisał zjawisko transformacji DNA. Griffithowi udało się to zaobserwować podczas badań nad dwoma różnymi szczepami bakterii Pneumococcus, które wywołują zapalenie płuc. Należy zauważyć, że Griffith nie wyjaśnił tego zjawiska. Dopiero 16 lat później Oswald Avery powtórzył eksperymenty Griffitha i dowiódł, że za zjawisko odpowiedzialny jest DNA. (pl)
  • Nel 1928, attraverso quello che oggi è noto come esperimento di Griffith, propose la presenza di un principio trasformante alla base della trasformazione batterica. L'esperimento aprì la strada alla scoperta del DNA come molecola contenente l'informazione genetica. Griffith morì durante un raid aereo su Londra, mentre era al lavoro con il collega e amico William Scott. Morì stringendo in mano un foglio contenente formule che sembravano riferirsi ad una imminente scoperta rivoluzionaria. In ogni caso, i suoi appunti si rivelarono troppo scarni per essere interpretati. Quegli appunti sono tuttora conservati, in modo che qualcuno sia in grado di interpretarli e completare il lavoro di Griffith. Frederick fu lo zio di John Stanley Griffith, un vincitore della Medaglia Faraday della Royal Society. (it)
  • Frederick Griffith foi um médico militar britânico, especialista em microbiologia. Nasceu em 1881, em Hale e faleceu em 1941. É conhecido pelo Experimento de Griffith, através do qual ele descobriu o Princípio Genético da Transformação, que posteriormente ficou conhecido como DNA. (pt)
  • 弗雷德里克·格里菲斯(Frederick Griffith,1879年-1941年)是一位英國醫生,他在1928年進行了一項「格里菲斯實驗」,發現了轉型定律,後來其他人發現其中原理為DNA的轉移。 (zh)
  • Frederick Griffith (* 1877 in Hale; † 1941 in London) war ein britischer Mediziner und Bakteriologe. Bekannt wurde Griffith durch den nach ihm Griffith's Experiment genannten Versuch mit Pneumokokken, bei denen er die Aufnahme eines genetischen Faktors durch einen Stamm von Pneumokokken nachwies: Griffith arbeitete mit zwei Stämmen, einem R- und einem S-Stamm. Hierbei steht "s" für "smooth", da sie in der Lage sind Schleimkapseln zu bilden und "r" für "rough", weil sie ihre erbliche Fähigkeit zur Kapselbildung verloren haben.In einem Tierversuch erwies sich der S-Stamm für Mäuse als tödlich, der R-Stamm als harmlos, da dieser ja nicht über eine schützende Schleimkapsel verfügt und somit von den Enzymen der Wirtszelle zersetzt wird. Tötete man die Bakterien im tödlichen S-Stamm ab und injizierte sie der Maus, nahm das Tier keinen Schaden. Injizierte man ihr aber eine Mischung aus lebenden R-Bakterien und abgetöteten S-Bakterien, so starben sie. Die vorher harmlosen R-Pneumokokken hatten den tödlichen Faktor des S-Stamms übernommen. Heute weiß man, dass die DNA der S-Bakterien den Erhitzungsprozess überlebt hatte und somit von den R-Pneumokokken aufgenommen werden konnte. Die DNA des S-Stamms enthielt das entscheidende Gen, das vor dem Immunsystem des Wirts geschützt hat. Griffith beschrieb so als einer der ersten eine Möglichkeit des Genaustauschs zwischen Bakterien. Heute ist dieser Vorgang als Transformation bekannt. Siehe auch: Oswald Avery (de)
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  • Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) was a British medical officer and geneticist. In 1928, in what is today known as Griffith's experiment, he discovered what he called a transforming principle, which is today known to be DNA. He was born in Hale, England and attended Liverpool University where he studied genetics. (en)
  • Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) était un médecin anglais, qui découvrit en 1928 la transformation génétique chez les bactéries. (fr)
  • Frederick Griffith (ur. 1877 lub 1881, zm. 1941 w Londynie) — brytyjski lekarz i naukowiec, który w 1928 r. (pl)
  • Nel 1928, attraverso quello che oggi è noto come esperimento di Griffith, propose la presenza di un principio trasformante alla base della trasformazione batterica. (it)
  • Frederick Griffith foi um médico militar britânico, especialista em microbiologia. Nasceu em 1881, em Hale e faleceu em 1941. (pt)
  • 弗雷德里克·� �里菲斯(Frederick Griffith,1879年-1941年)是一位英國醫生,他在1928年進行了一� �「� �里菲斯實驗」,發現了轉型定律,後來其他人發現其中原理為DNA的轉移。 (zh)
  • Frederick Griffith (* 1877 in Hale; � 1941 in London) war ein britischer Mediziner und Bakteriologe. Bekannt wurde Griffith durch den nach ihm Griffith's Experiment genannten Versuch mit Pneumokokken (1928), bei denen er die Aufnahme eines genetischen Faktors durch einen Stamm von Pneumokokken nachwies: Griffith arbeitete mit zwei Stämmen, einem R- und einem S-Stamm. (de)
rdfs:label
  • Frederick Griffith (en)
  • Frederick Griffith (fr)
  • Frederick Griffith (pl)
  • Frederick Griffith (it)
  • Frederick Griffith (pt)
  • 弗雷德里克·格里菲斯 (zh)
  • Frederick Griffith (de)
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