Arthur Kornberg and his colleagues incubated an extract of E. coli with a mixture of dATP, dTTP, dGTP, and dCTP. Only the dTTP was labeled with ³²P in the α-phosphate group. After incubation, the mixture was treated with trichloroacetic acid to precipitate DNA, but not the dNTPs. The precipitate was collected, and the extent of [³²P]dTMP incorporated into DNA was determined.
(a) If any one of the dNTPs were omitted from the incubation mixture, would radioactivity be found in the precipitate? Explain.