Frederick Griffith

For other people named Frederick Griffith, see Frederick Griffith (disambiguation).

Frederick Griffith
Born1877 (1877)[1]
Prescot, England
Died1941 (1942) (aged 63–64)
London, England
EducationLiverpool University
Occupation(s)physician, pathologist, bacteriologist
Known fordiscovery of pneumococcal transformation
Scientific career
InstitutionsMinistry of Health Pathological Laboratory, Liverpool Royal Infirmary

Frederick Griffith (1877–1941) was a British bacteriologist whose focus was the epidemiology and pathology of bacterial pneumonia. In January 1928 he reported what is now known as Griffith's Experiment, the first widely accepted demonstrations of bacterial transformation, whereby a bacterium distinctly changes its form and function.[2]

He showed that Streptococcus pneumoniae, implicated in many cases of lobar pneumonia,[3] could transform from one strain into a different strain. The observation was attributed to an unidentified underlying principle,[2] later known in the Avery laboratory as the "transforming principle" (abbreviated as T. P.)[4] and identified as DNA.[5] America's leading pneumococcal researcher, Oswald T. Avery, speculated that Griffith had failed to apply adequate controls.[6] A cautious and thorough researcher, and a reticent individual, Griffith's tendency was to publish only findings that he believed truly significant, and Griffith's findings were rapidly confirmed by researchers in Avery's laboratory.[6] His discovery was one of the first to show the central role of DNA in heredity.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference lancashirebmd was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Griffith F (January 1928). "The significance of pneumococcal types". Journal of Hygiene. 27 (2): 113–59. doi:10.1017/S0022172400031879. PMC 2167760. PMID 20474956.
  3. ^ Musher DM (April 2011). "New modalities in treating pneumococcal pneumonia". Hospital Practice. 39 (2): 89–96. doi:10.3810/hp.2011.04.398. PMID 21576901. S2CID 23884367.
  4. ^ McCarty M. The Transforming Principle: Discovering that Genes are Made of DNA (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1985), p 85.
  5. ^ a b Chambers, Donald L. (1995). DNA: the double helix: perspective and prospective at forty years. New York, N.Y: New York Academy of Sciences. p. 49 and p. 185. ISBN 978-0-89766-905-4.
  6. ^ a b Downie AW (November 1972). "Fourth Griffith Memorial Lecture. Pneumococcal transformation—a backward view". Journal of General Microbiology. 73 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1099/00221287-73-1-1. PMID 4143929.