<P> In the early twentieth century , biologists thought that proteins carried genetic information . This was based on the belief that proteins were more complex than DNA . Phoebus Levene 's influential `` tetranucleotide hypothesis '' , which incorrectly proposed that DNA was a repeating set of identical nucleotides , supported this conclusion . The results of the Avery -- MacLeod -- McCarty experiment , published in 1944 , suggested that DNA was the genetic material , but there was still some hesitation within the general scientific community to accept this , which set the stage for the Hershey -- Chase experiment . </P>
what was the key factor that allowed hershey and chase
The results of the Avery -- MacLeod -- McCarty experiment