There were three postulated methods of DNA replication that explained how genetic information was copied and passed down through the generations. The methods were semi-conservative, conservative and dispersive replication. Semi-conservative replication involved the double helix unwinding and each half becoming incorporated into a new strand of DNA while it served a s a template for what the other half should look like. Conservative replication suggested that the DNA double helix unwound to serve as a template for a new double helix, but that the original would wind back up and stay together and the replicated strand would be entirely new. Dispersive replication suggested that the double helix would be cut up and that the new strand would have pieces of the old strand of DNA and the newly synthesized DNA in it in no particular orientation. Meselson and Stahl investigated the idea of DNA replication and by using nitrogen markers, definitively showed that DNA replicated in a semi-conservative manner.
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