Dy f va [4d /

April 1, 1952

Dr. Robert Austrian
Department of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland

Dear Dr. Austrian:

I have just seen your interesting very of Bacterial Transformation
Reactions in the current issue of Bacterfological Reviews. It appears
to me a very useful summary of the status of the field as of the time
of ita writing, and regret that I did not see it in time to include a
reference to it in the paper that Zinder and I have sent in on genetic
exchange in Salmonella. (You will possibly have seen his announcement
in MGB).

This brings me to the point of this letter, your reference 26. From —
the very beginning, as I understood it, (see pa. 4 , MOB~1), MOB has
been agreed not to be a publication, and citations should not be made
to it. I wouid not have submitted my comment quoted as ref. 26 on any
other basis. Before such a comment ig quoted at length in an unrestricted
publication, I would think that Dianzini should have an opportunity to
reply. May I request, therefore, that an asrmtum ve submitted for inclu-
gion in the next issue of Bact. Rev. that ref. 26 should have bsen per-
sonal communication.

Naturally, I was very auch interested in your suggestions on p. 35
about the usefulness of transformations in K-12. 4e have of course tried
to do this, completely fruitlessly. On the other hand, while there is so
far no evidence of sexual recombination In Salmonella, 1 would not exclude
the possibility of it, and we are looking as hard as we can. It might be
worthnpoigting out that Boivin's observations are no longer accessible
to verification, as his strains seem t have been irrevocably lost about
the time of his death. It is difficult for me to be surs just what he
did have—- that is, the interrretaticn, not the experiments.

One last point (see your nige 47, second para.): would you make DNA
part of the definition of a transforming factor?

May I ask you to save a reprint of the review for me? Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg