Levin B R, Stewart F M
Science. 1977 Apr 8;196(4286):218-20. doi: 10.1126/science.847470.
Formulas for estimating the probability that chimeric plasmids carried by disarmed hosts will become established in natural populations of bacteria are presented and their use illustrated with a series of realistic numerical examples. The implications of these a priori probability estimates for the problem of containment for recombinant DNA research is discussed.
