College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University | New York,N.Y. 10032

DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY 630 West 168th Street

July 1, 1969

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Josh,

Thank you very much for sending us your very interesting
column on CO. We especially liked your interpretation of Rodkey's
recent finding that fetal hemoglobin has a lower affinity for CO
than adult hemoglobin as an indication of ''the slow pace of biologi-
cal evolution."

We have not yet looked into the effect of DPG on CO
binding directly. Your comment on DPG is of course, particularly
relevant in connection with the so-called Haldane Effect (Douglas,
Haldane & Haldane, J. Physiol., 44, 275, 1912) i.e. the increase
in oxygen affinity caused by partial saturation of hemoglobin with
CO. That DPG could counteract this effect is already hinted at
in a recent paper in Science, a Xerox of which is enclosed.

Another relevant item is a letter we just received from
Canada (see enclosed Xerox) which was probably stimulated by
your article. We are also sending you the other reprints you asked
for.

It would be fun to discuss these matters with you in person.
Are you coming East this summer? We are going to be around all
summer except for a brief visit to Denver during the middle of August.
With kindest regards.
Sincerely yours,
buku
Ane at Lf

RB md Reinhold Benesch
encl.