THE FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF SPONTANEOUS BACTERIOPHAGE MUTANTS AS EVIDENCE FOR THE EXPONENTIAL RATE OF PHAGE REPRODUCTION

Abstract

The phage geneticist is faced with the task of constructing a satisfactory model of phage reproduction, in the absence of direct morphological evidence similar to the one available to the macro-geneticist. Cell division, mitosis, meiosis, fertilization have a solid basis of morphological observation that the modern geneticist takes for granted. The virologist, on the other hand, begins where the cytogeneticist ends; in a sense, he deals directly with the units of genetic material whose existence the macro-geneticists (including the bacterial geneticists) must infer. Here lies his weakness, since little is known of the performance of such units—and also his strength, since he can manipulate this subcytological world. He is not limited to dealing with integrated units of reproduction at the cellular level, but can control to a certain extent what goes into his cells. Because of this, virology's methods may lead more directly to solving the problem of the mode...