UNIVERSITY 
PURDUE 
UNIVERSITY 
INDIANA 
at INDIANAPOLIS 
RESEARCH AND SPONSORED PROGRAMS 
355 Lansing Street • 46202 • (317) 264-8285 
September 14, 1978 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I am writing in response to the statement by Joseph A. Calif ano 
in the Federal Register regarding Recombinant DNA Research proposed 
revised guidelines. My letter is in behalf of this campus of 
Indiana University and has been prepared in cooperation with the 
Assistant Dean for Research, Indiana University School of Medicine. 
The following is an abstract of a statement by Dr. William D. Sawyer, 
Chairman and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University 
School of Medicine, prepared to assist in our response. It summarizes 
the sentiments of our faculty concerned about future recombinant DNA 
research. 
". . .the proposed revision is consistent with current 
knowledge (and lack thereof) and conservative. The 
proposed revision should, however, hasten safe exploi- 
tation of a valuable technology for the well being of 
mankind. I urge, therefore, that the School of Medicine 
support issuance by the Secretary of the Revised Guide- 
lines. 
Parenthetically, my principal concern about the proposed 
revision relates to the issue of expression of eukaryotic 
DNA in prokaryotic cells. I concur that expression of 
RNA transcripts from eukaryotic DNA will likely be nil 
or minimal because the prokaryotes lack the enzymes to 
accomplish the processing of the transcript to permit 
translation. However, eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA; 
already processed in the eukaryote) can serve as template 
for complementary DNA (cDNA) . If the latter is inserted 
into a prokaryote and transcribed, the resultant mRNA 
should be subject to translation without further process- 
ing. I believe, therefore, that distinction should be 
made between eukaryote DNA and cDNA formed from functional 
eukaryote mRNA.” 
[A- 145] 
Medicine • Dentistry • Nursing • University Hospitals • Law • Social Service • Liberal Arts 
Engineering and Technology • Fine Arts • Business • Education • Science • Physical Education 
