APRIL 27-28-MINl7rES OF MEETING 
23 
The RAC did not vote on the specific proposals of the Harvard 
Committee although some members thought the proposed require- 
ments to be overly stringent. Rather, the RAC unanimously 
passed a motion that the handling of naked CNA normally 
requires Pi conditions. Furthermore, cleavage of the recom- 
binant CNA with restriction endonucleases, as in the proposed 
addendum, unequivocally removes such experiments from any 
restraints of the Guidelines. 
D. Cloning of Chemically Synthesized Genes 
The RAC reviewed proposals by Dr. Ray Wu of Cbmell University 
for the setting of containment levels for the cloning of chem- 
ically synthesized genes for human insulin chains. Dr. Wu 
wrote proposing to clone a chemically synthesized insulin A gene 
under Pl-EKl conditions, and a synthetic insulin B gene under 
P1-EK2 or P2-EK1 conditions. 
The RAC concluded that the containment levels for these experiments 
should be analogous to those required for a characterized clone 
derived from a shotgun experiment. In the case of a human CNA 
sequence, P2-EK1 conditions can be approved when the cloned 
recombinant has been rigorously characterized and is free of 
harmful genes. The RAC voted 9 to 1 to approve the request to 
clone synthetic genes for human insulin A and B chains under 
P2-EK1 or P1-EK2 conditions. The negative vote was cast because 
of concern about possible hormonal or antigenic activities of 
the insulin A and B chains. 
E. Cloning Eukaryotic DNA in Yeast 
The RAC reviewed requests frcm Dr. Ronald Davis of Stanford 
University and Dr. Richard Firtel of the University of California, 
San Diego, to clone eukaryotic DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . 
Dr. Davis requests approval to clone in yeast Drosophila melan - 
ogaster DNA sequences linked to an E. coli non-con jugative 
plasmid or CNA linked to a selectable yeast gene. The recom- 
binant first will be constructed in _E . coli and then transferred 
to yeast. Dr. Davis requests approval for use of P2 conditions 
for these experiments. 
Dr. Firtel requests approval for the cloning in yeast of 
Dictyostelium discoidiun DNA sequences linked to regions 
of the yeast genome containing selectable markers linked 
to non-con jugative E. coli plasmids. The triple reccmbinants 
first will be formed in E. coli and then used to transform 
yeast strains deficient in the selectable markers. Approval 
of P2 conditions is requested. 
Members of the RAC felt that there was little doubt about the 
[ 539 ] 
