7 . 
worthwhile: 
1. Bolstering immediately, research, meetings, and collaborative efforts 
of microbial taxonomists, ecologists, and molecular biologists. A wide array 
of prokaryotic organisms has been searched for restriction enzymes of different 
specificities to make the experimental technology more versatile, the same can be 
done to make it more safe. We do not have the background in our group to name an 
excellent prokaryotic cloning host. _B. subt i 1 i s does seem superior to JE. col i in 
many respects, although again foreign genes might be transferred from non-spore- 
forming mutant hosts to wild- type. It also under special circumstances causes 
human eye infections. An ecologically excellent organism would have a thoroughly 
specialized ecological niche, goegraphical ly distant from laboratories. Thermo- 
phi les and halophiles would probably never make foreign proteins, so obligate 
psychrophiles can be considered on that count. Many other gram •negative and gram 
positive species have potential. Research on this matter seems necessary. 
2. It should be decided that after two years, that is January, 1978, NIH 
will no longer offer new grant support of inter-species recombinant DNA studies 
using E_. col i . This would certainly be a stimulus to the search for safer host- 
vector systems, and place a time limit on the kinds of experiments being done now. 
3. It would be naive of us in the molecular biology community to fail to 
anticipate the immediate use of inter-species prokaryotic recombinants in the 
pharmaceutical industry. If at this time we further the entrenchment of recombinant 
technology in _E. col i , rather than applying pressure for the development of other 
systems, industry too will use E_. col i . All the problems touched upon above will 
be much more acute with daily large scale industrial operations; and industry will 
be interested in extremely hazardous types of experiments, e.g. the manufacture in 
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