Uc tober 23, 1952

Dr, andre Lofft
'Iusiditut Pasteur
23 rae du Dr, ga
refis 15, Franee

Veur Dr, Lwoff:

Js. Hershey has forwarded the request you had sent to hia for Het stocks
of 2. coi Kei2, = ag fuliy prapsred to discuea this lth you :syself, keeping
da aind thut we have some interest in thise studies still, ourselves.

in fact, £ camot refrain Broa indicating shat I was moat OV faned that
JOU sncaid ragort io anotnar waanel, as it ware, behind sy buck. This is
sapecially grievous io na because of the high regued thus I have had since
stuceat days, and continus to huve, for your pecson as well as your sclentific
achisvagats. I resect anvtucr dicident thal parpiaxed we gréssiy st the tine.
male ue verecairesdy working of lysogenicliy in HeiZ, coincidentally with
Jvur oma magnificent studies cn B, megateriun, your cissoksry of induction of
dysis wes Laing applied wo twek2, An consequenes of Your Visit to Caltech. We
finally learned of this by Vague rumor, rather then any direct account, not~
Wathstiucisg the fast that se had Prieviaed Wie ccseontizl mteviaks in the
firet dnsteuses Ln particuioe, tha incdouwer atta, i dco sot iagan that we
have any patent on anything that is Gastributec, wut thls pattern of beha-
vicr do herdiy likely to syoxs the sost frleisiy cng Suujarative spirit. rt
au Very ease Ww forgat that ancther laboratory way nave os Jesp an interest
in « prbblem as cregel!'— perhacs Theva reen gvtlty <i such turgetfulnese
Ryseif. Lot a felendly and construe Live stlitios to sash dirficuities @an
chug be menedicd ty anicahle com@untcetion, ait discussion of the apportion-
ment of pregrans and mutual confidence. I regrat that this has not ensued
for tha K-12 studies. I agr your advice cu the messures thet should be taken
i Pemedy AL. AS neve the right, 2 thiuk, to ask for costed Sreedom of
MUVEN BOL tO ux icit Lines of wei that have cpenec up from the investment
oi & sraat deal of affort in tae acevelopment of atocks, We world prefer that
this £reedum flow easily from a spirit of autuni confidence, ast roughly
from un antegoniside *Onupedly of experiiwonital catertais. Cntii such comfidence
has been affirmed in practice, the aost reasonable course would seem to be
that wa discuss the Linas of wart Ga whieh suse cyetliy ‘4 $2 expected, I
do aot telieve that f have refused ony ressoutis re must for stooks, end I
think you will agree that the flow in the pest hag buen greater from Madison
t© Paris than the convarse, #ith respect to meaterdals thet are the subjeét
of our {mandiate investigations, IT believe I have the right —and the obliga~
tion to students and colleagues who are alec involved~~ to snquire on the ef-
fect that their distribution will have on our long-term program.

May I illustrate this with an exemple
May I lilustrate this with a message that I would like to ask you to comnunicate
to your colleagues, Jacques and Mel. I hope you will believe my assertion that I
had decdued on this several days ago, and was planning to write to them soon, Jacques
and I nave shared aa interest in gene—-enzyme relaticnships that dates, on my part,
since abvut 1945 (and much longer for you, of course). At a time when the one-to-one
theory seemea unassailable {and which I initially accepted myself } experimental results
with Lac- umtations in K-12 pointed towards considerable complexity, Nv resources of
time, facilities, and collaboration were, perhaps too,limited but I had hoped we could
continue uo fairly sluborate program. A good deal of time wee spent in producing the
mutants, thelr genetic aalysis, and the characlerization of the iactase. Monod and

ohn huve worked ameh foster and better on certain aspeats, especially the inmunochemistry

and one can conclude from thedr physioiogical, no less than own predominantly
Senetic,siudics that the geus—enzyme relationships ace not sc simpie as most people
had thougnt originnl. Gn the whole, 1 think our relationships have been fairly
amicubie (lo disregard a few ruffled tempers), abthough ouch of us hes naturally
exaggeriled our coun studies fn cia own writings. Lo had a postéoe tered felicw nare
Whe is dug dusuncignstiesa siuciee on &. coli, anc I tad topec he coulé extend his
work to wns coli lactase. The tden of euch an apereach vas act unigue ke Peris, although
the bellitance of tts en cuiton ves been, StLiL, L theugrbwe coud buiiag on the
Methets ate Lofora.tdud sccuutetud Oy Conn and Vened, and Hb oly thea to our system,
to Culpelete wate sogile viucigs, For tnis veaaon, L Pelt thai we snovid hold on to
Our Collection of Lace saituttons at 1ifferent lez, cithcugr severci of than were
sant te Ploris. FL is ao. eppavent taat ve were uncady optialseic esuue oeing able to

 

acu tris A a eax Su cuts. Wel Qobodopaeibs such oa the Semetlo toansduetion in Sal-~

 

 

M@heliasy gs Ue o. yall ty-Poctezs La kel? "sesuclity" nave ornined most of my own
tine. Tf che ocDlem is not Supevannpabed, Tovodla Vike t. cyl whether your ccileagues

Would sUlk. e028 vo eeieute un ASML CUCL Col yshe ol the .co tuvante—= 4f so, I
Wii be glid to gud eRe

“2 tayet, x :

a ey HO WOPOS 2 Blatiuwculy we ali Le Toy happy ii ve can create a
=

 

 

siiuation uwhore we gan ebeely cAvlcuige adeas, ailermation, agua walecials on a founda-
tiun of anitual intesest ar? wenticaice. Tu fa ast macy UO axpuse so confessional a
tone, out 2 hoped it @igat be the best vay to ouelioratle Mest uiudenls tnat may have
built up on both uidey of the atlantic, Yao of thy sleasats of tnis fLundation should
be Sues Goch of nog has ap Liberest in the cuvelopaunt cl one!s uN. experinental
tlabariod, abooit this inlevost is aeb excluglyu. Vhat ls Le buss you think should be
done wiih K-12 dysogenicity that we had not thought to do, or that represents a fixed
conclusion that requires independent confirmation? Yhero ts more w couplicated stocks
than vic cultuitss theaslyag—— Giere as Si atcumuleation. of diiforiabion on their

history und osiavlor thas tg voey Carrdouit vw ccouvey in a Lobier. Gertain aspects
are Pavia. Lludl--o.g. toa relation oF Linkass studies to the coup2ticility factor,
and a full appreciation of than reyuires, if 2 my say 39, cunsiicravie inioetrination.
Ido not tatne saat abyoud Wow have tna olightasi ditfvhiuity in reproducing any of
r

our experimants. as they ars published, but axtanstons of them may entail a very heavy
investment in the developaent of agorugriata stocks,

fours slicsraly,

Joshua Lederberg

P.S. May I make a faint rebuttal to your review of Werkman & Wilsoa's "Bacteriai Physio-
hogy". Certainly one may argue that phage ought to be taken up in more detail,
but this is usually done in Virology rather than bacterial physiclogy. My own
chapter was one of the most peripheral in the book—and in it, phage the least
central item. I could not give a full historical summary—- if I quoted the earlier
French writings (which very few of the students at this level would be able to read)
I should havs to Bo into the moot question of phage as a "hereditary victation"™

a3 against a parasite. I did spend too fuch space on Phage as it wes, and based
this an an erroneous ression of transformations 2s possiblgY resulting (in

any significant Gistance from phege infection per se. I submit that you were
overzealous in reporting that Burnet's early work was ignored, I should have
liked to see a proper treatsent of phage physiology, but this was oeyond the scope
of the book. A more appropriate criticism would be the way in which enzymatic
adaptation was ignored. Unfortunately, this subject fell between the many stools
of the several weitere and editors, and by the tima this was realized, it was

too dats le pick ti up. This Coeay nob. of course, remedy the defect,

roo
he aed