In their paper `` Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types : Induction of Transformation by a Deoxyribonucleic Acid Fraction Isolated from Pneumococcus Type III '' , published in the February 1944 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine , Avery and his colleagues suggest that DNA , rather than protein as widely believed at the time , may be the hereditary material of bacteria , and could be analogous to genes and\/or viruses in higher organisms .
In their paper of 1944 , Avery and his colleagues suggest that DNA , rather than protein was the hereditary material of bacteria , and could be analogous to genes and\/or viruses in higher organisms .