The first strong evidence for colinearity between a gene and its polypeptide product resulted from studies by:

a. Wilhelm Johannsen

b. Gregor Mendel

c. Charles Yanofsky

d. James Watson

e. Francis Crick

The correct answer is option c, that is, Charles Yanofsky.

Explanation:

An American geneticist, Charles Yanofsky, worked as a faculty at Stanford University took part in the development of one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, and found attenuation, that is, a riboswitch mechanism.

In the mechanism, the messenger RNA modifies its shape in response to a small molecule, and therefore, changes its binding capability for the regulatory region of an operon and a gene. His studies suggested that genes and proteins are co-linear. If the section of the intron in the gene gets mutated, then the protein generated by the protein also gets mutated.