Dept, teneties
a

adverse icy of Wis.
Madi soy Or ue

 

December 16, 1955
Dear Dr. Huxley:

It would take longer than your patiemce would endure to answer your
questions fully, which only means, of course, that the field of virus
genetics is still somewhat fluid. The best general source reference
that I can give you (and I recommend it highly) is Luriats book, General
Virology, published in Enghand by Chapman and Hall. His views are close
to yours and mine. Dr. Rhoads has told me that he gave gou a reprint of
my article on "Cell Genetics..." which, by now, is only slightly out of
date.

On some specific points: I am rather suspicious of Rose's experiments
on the site-specific viruses of amphibia, partly because he has been rather
quiet abcut them himself. His data so far were startling, but not statistically
impressive.

Luria's clder idea that phage broke up into "subunits" (how coes that tern
differ from units?) hag been largely abandéned by its early proponents. The

Vi ,ruseinfeeted bacteriun may be considered aa a peowlas pomilation of virus
2 uclei, more or less panuictic, There is no evidence that the unit of a
Cie tion and of ating is anything less than tho whole cenoue of the virus
no better (or worse ) evidence for partial recombination in oi

vy oxvanisnis, cucept Perhaps for the treusient "partial hetero: -
mien Levinthal has studied, and reported on ia Genetics, Thais ts var-
te Selling's olcer ideas on erossins-over in plants,

ve
we

   
  
   

 

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As to tysogeni city, tuore is <
evidence whieh 3
a
uhhh ne “honolorous clironoso' Te notice that golace
also found this lest step hard. co believe, as I did £00 Wren
The hypothesis of copy-choice, Licey that this exchence
placenent, mut an ineorporation of the specificity of

repligetion of the chromosome, may make the idee nore elev sible, There
& sense then three nedes of trunsductions 1) of bacterial" wensh, wie DA

   

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or i eo ~ 7 3
2) of the same, ac ineidentsl passengers in a virus particle, 3) of tha vires
tee? a 2 + 2 2 :
nucseus itself, viewing this as a special semment of the bacterial canoe,

T will send you sone reprints, under separate cover, woiel: develor these
idsas; they are more fully steted elsewhere, ta press, Tue favor of = regular
exchange would be eppreciatec, if you are interested, We will be deliv ted

to see you if you can visit us asain nexs cumer,

 

My

With best wishes for the New Year,
Yours sincersiv,

PS, It is alnost a truise that a cancer virus,

or say other p plasmid, is pert of the cancer gosnue Lederbor.
cell, How it orisinatec, whebher by "mutation" Protessor of Ge:

 

or by “nybridizetion™ would be herd to decide,