Chapter 



3 



Genetics and Microbiology' 



By JOSHUA LEDERBERG 



"To the biologist of the 19th century, bac- 

 teria appeared as the most primitive expression of cellular 

 organization, the very limit of life. In reality it appears 

 that it is only their small size and the absence of recognized 

 sexual reproduction which has given the illusion that 

 bacteria are simple cells." Thus Dubos (11) introduced an 

 outstanding synthesis of the structural and biochemical 

 complexity of the microbe as a living system. But in an- 

 other realm, he (12) could not repress a nostalgia for primi- 

 tive simplicity: "Bacterial variation passes from the col- 

 lector's box of the naturalist to the sophisticated atmos- 

 phere of the biochemical laboratory. One may wonder 

 whether the geneticist will not arrive too late to introduce 

 his jargon into bacteriology." 



1 Paper No. 553 from the Department of Genetics, University of Wis- 

 consin. Experimental work from this laboratory has been supported by 

 research grants from the National Cancer Institute (C-2157), National 

 Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, and the Research Com- 

 mittee, Graduate School, University of Wisconsin, with funds provided 

 by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. 

 24 



