Whereas old dependency theory was Marxist in presentation, but nationalist in orientation, seeking to combine a theory of class struggle with a nationalist âthird worldistâ ideology, the new dependency theory is institutionalist in its analysis and political orientation.
Griffith concluded that the type II-R had been transformed into the lethal III-S strain by a transforming principle that was somehow part of the dead III-S strain bacteria. Today, we know that the transforming principle Griffith observed was the DNA of the III-s strain bacteria. While the bacteria had been killed, the DNA had survived the heating process and was taken up by the II-R strain bacteria. The III-S strain DNA contains the genes that form the protective polysaccharide capsule.
Griffith's experiment, reported in 1928, identified that some transforming principle in pneumococcal bacteria could transform them from one type to another. Griffith, a British medical officer, had spent years applying serological typing to cases of pneumonia, a frequently fatal disease in the early 20th century.