Genetic Transduction and RNA Bacteriophage
Working as a graduate student with Joshua Lederberg, Zinder discovered that bacteriophage can carry genes from one bacterium to another. Initial experiments were carried out using Salmonella. Zinder and Lederberg named this process of genetic exchange transduction.
Later, Zinder discovered the first bacteriophage that contained RNA as its genetic material. At that time, Harvey Lodish of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology worked in his lab.
He died in 2012 of pneumonia after a long illness.
Read more about this topic: Norton Zinder
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