Copyright ? 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. - 1 - Name_______________________ Period___________ Chapter 16: The Molecular Basis of Inheritance Concept 16.1 DNA is the genetic material 1. What are the two chemical components of chromosomes? DNA and protein 2. Why did researchers originally think that protein was the genetic material? Until the 1940s, the case for proteins seemed stronger, especially since biochemists had identified them as a class of macromolecules with great heterogeneity and specificity of function, essential requirements for the hereditary material. Moreover, little was known about nucleic acids, whose physical and chemical properties seemed far too uniform to account for