Stahl, Franklin William (1929- )

US molecular biologist who, with Matthew Meselson, confirmed that replication of the genetic material DNA is semiconservative (that is, the daughter cells each receive one strand of DNA from the original parent cell and one newly replicated strand).

Stahl was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Harvard and Rochester. In 1970 he became professor at the University of Oregon and a research associate of the Institute of Molecular Biology.

Working at the California Institute of Technology, Meselson and Stahl began experimenting with viruses in 1957, and then carried out their successful experiment with bacteria to prove the semiconservative nature of DNA replication. The concept was first suggested by Francis Crick and James Watson, who pioneered the study of DNA.

In 1961, working with scientists Sidney Brenner and François Jacob, Meselson and Stahl demonstrated that ribosomes require instructions in order to be able to manufacture proteins, and can make different proteins from those normally produced by a particular cell. They also showed that messenger RNA supplies the instructions to the ribosomes.

Stahl has also researched into the genetics of bacteriophages.