H. Potter is the researcher who coauthored a 1976 study with D. Dressler on structural intermediates in genetic recombination. The experiments used electron microscopy to inspect Colicin E1 plasmid DNA after isolation and EcoRI cleavage.[ref]
The investigators reported more than 800 molecules appearing to represent recombination intermediates. The crossed forms had twice the usual plasmid DNA content, making them candidates for an interaction between two molecules rather than a single molecule with an unusual outline.[ref]
On the mechanism of genetic recombination: electron microscopic observation of recombination intermediates by H. Potter and D. Dressler. Abstract: observed candidate forms and DNA content
For an illuminating comparison, two unrelated strands can overlap in a two-dimensional image without being joined. Repeated, organized structures with the expected lengths provide stronger evidence than one visual resemblance. The work therefore illustrates how a mechanistic model generates constraints on what should be observed, alongside the need to distinguish molecular organization from accidental image overlap.
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