Nov 2, 1953

My dear Beale:

Of course your remarks in your letter of the 26th are hardly a
quibble [and I doubt that you would have thought so yourself]. I
perhaps should have been more explicit in my letter of the 10th in
stating the alternatives to ths conditional "If...transduction involves
only... chromosomal fragments...." So far, we have no criteria of
genetic localisation except concordance in transduction. It would be very
helpful to have a sexual (E12 type) recombinational mechanism in this
group, but this has yet tobbe found, though it would be rash to deny the
possibility and we are still looking.

Ths only remark I can add to the possibility of a cytoplasmic deter-
mination is that we would, in any event, expect the recipient cell cytoplasm
to be greatly preponderant over the cytoplasm that might,hypothetically,
be carried owr with the nuclear fragments. Then one would perhaps expect
the phase of the recipient to have an overriding control. I.E. cells in
phase 2 (enx) of abony ought then always to give 1,23b s when exposed
to phage from typhisurium, regardless of phase (i or 1,2). This would not
be necessary, however, if the cytoplasmic encouragement were specific for
the allele as well as the locus. Obviously, the important experiments have
yet to be completed, namely the role of the phase of the recipient in the
determination. There have been some technicalities obscuring the interpre~
tation of the experiments that have been donw in this direction, and the
study is dtill in progress.

Of course you may keep therreprint. Judging from reprint requests, the
paper is now in print (Jour. Immunol. 71: 232-240. I will seni you a reprint
when the supply arrives (probably about 6 weeks).

Sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg