Movember 1, 1953

Dr{ Selman A. Wekeman
Department of Microblology
Rutgers University

New Brunswick, New Jersey

Dea Dr. Wakeman:

Thank you far your note of October 16, renewing your cordial invitation
to offer a seminar in your departaent. I hope you will not find ay lack of
response as ungrasious, but I must reply in the sase vein as before. Travel
schedules from Madison even to New York (not to mention further destinations)
are rather irksome, and for the purposes of a seminar I would prefer to defer
such a trip to a more convenient occasion. I am very sorry that my plane
this last year did not, as I had previously hoped, create a congenial opportu-
nity. There is, however, a very tangible likelihood of ay travelling East
next Spring, and if this develops I will hasten to beg confirmation of your
invitation at that time. I hope you can sympathise with ay reluctance to in-
terrupt a busy research (and teaching) routine if this can be averted to our
mataal satisfaction. It will be no news to Dr. Wakeman that such interrup-
tione ramify several days before ami after.

One season I would particularly Like to make this visit is to discuss
the urgent possibifities of a atudy of actinomycete life cycles from a genetic
approach, such as that summrised in the engplosure. Do you have such a program
in your departaent? Rutgers would be a logi@al place for it, but my further
remarks presuppose that this has not yet been developed. I did do eom intro-
ductory experiments som time ago with Streptomyces griseus— only enggh to
make it reasonably certain that Klienberger-Nobel's description of the aerial
mycelium ag an o tory diplophase arising from syngamy of different hyphal
nuclei is incorrecté The incidence of prototroph formation in conidia from
mixed (almost certaihly heterokaryotic) auxotroph mitants is far too low. However,
there was good (if ciroumstantial) evidence for the formation of heterokaryons
following hyphal anastomosis, find for the regular segregation of uninucleate
conidia ta point on which I had previously been rather suspicious)on the basis
of Stanier 's work on an unstable 3. coelicolor). I would to see this stady
completed, be it here or slsewhare. I would prefer to have a graduate student
interested in a Ph.D. in genetics ani alcroblology, but would entertain applica-
tions from prospective post-doctorate fellows. If you happen toknow of any eni-
nently suitele eandidate, and were willigg to relinquish him, I would be indebted

for your courtesy.
Yours sincerely,

Josma Lederberg