April 11, 1953

Dr. H. BR. Plough

BYE Division

Atomic Pnargy Commission
Washington 25, 90.C.

Dear Dr. Plough:

hk you for your very considerate letter of April 9, juet
rece ivéd.

In fact, wea had decided not to seek renewal of our ANC contract,
at least fcr the present, We were diverted from cur original radiobLo~
Logigsal project by the discovery of a transduction system in FB. coli
K-12, which acts independently and differently from the sexel recom
bination. Goviously, such a finding was so central to our sntire
research program that we have had to tend to 1 immediately, and it my
ba a good many nmonthe before we are in « position to begin to think
about reaiming the ortginal oroject. Aas the traneduction work seeoa
to have no apecial pertinence to the statutory anhere of the ANC, we
thought it might te inaprropriate to ask for APC support of it. I am
under the impression that ABO polley tends to discourage researaly support
to any one project over extended intervaks longer then three yealts, and
for this reason alae prefex to postpone fn extendton untll we are again
working on the more pertinent project. “

THe enclosure will doubtless reach you in due courses anyhow. As indicated,
we are not quite ready to publish these findings, owing to their numerous
ramifications that have nct yet been cleared up.

I would certagMy welcome an opportunity to discuss our findings with
you, and would look forward to a vialt. Please lst us know if there is any

prospect of it.
Yours sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg

Eno: AEC report 3/1/53