Protein as the genetic info

Question

Why scientists prior to the 50's argued protein as the genetic info

Answer 1

Little was known about nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) in the early 1900s but scientists had been studying proteins for some time. They knew that the structure of a protein frequently determined its function and that there are a wide variety of proteins. As there are 22 amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) it made sense that if they were combined in different ways they could make a lot of different organisms. Fortunately, we now know that all of life is made up of the the nucleic acids uracil, adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine.