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Team:Alberta/FAQ
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| - | < | + | <h5>Doesn’t <i>E. coli</i> cause food poisoning? If <i>E. coli</i> is so dangerous, why are they being used in labs?</h5> |
| - | + | <ul> | |
| - | < | + | <li>Normal <i>E. coli</i> colonize the lower intestine of humans, while <b>producing Vitamin K</b> and |
| - | + | <b>protecting infection</b> from other harmful bacteria.</li> | |
| - | <a href="http:// | + | <li>Only some strains of <i>E. coli</i> cause food poisoning, but our group is using a <b>harmless, |
| - | + | nonpathogenic strain</b>. This train is engineered to contain mutations that would not allow the <i>E. | |
| + | coli</i> to survive outside the lab without particular nutrients.</li> | ||
| + | <li><i>E. coli</i> provides a well-studied and well-known <b>model system</b> to test and troubleshoot new | ||
| + | trials on.</li> | ||
| + | </ul> | ||
| + | <p>Reference: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/"> | ||
| + | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/</a></p> | ||
| + | <h5>What if plasmids containing <b>antibiotic resistance genes</b> were released into the environment despite | ||
| + | precautions?</h5> | ||
| + | <ul> | ||
| + | <li>These genes are used in synthetic biology as selection tools.</li> | ||
| + | <li>There are lower chances of gene uptake by wild bacteria compared to lab-strain bacteria which | ||
| + | have perforated membranes.</li> | ||
| + | <li>In the case that wild bacteria did uptake the antibiotic resistance gene, that gene would | ||
| + | eventually be lost in the population without exposure to the antibiotic, because it is then a | ||
| + | disadvantage for the bacteria to carry the unused plasmids. (Evidence observed in past with the | ||
| + | decline of specific antibiotic resistance after the human population limited that antibiotic).</li> | ||
| + | </ul> | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
Revision as of 22:33, 21 September 2013
The Littlest Mapmaker
"Exploration into the world of DNA Computing"
Team Alberta: University of Alberta
FAQ
Doesn’t E. coli cause food poisoning? If E. coli is so dangerous, why are they being used in labs?
- Normal E. coli colonize the lower intestine of humans, while producing Vitamin K and protecting infection from other harmful bacteria.
- Only some strains of E. coli cause food poisoning, but our group is using a harmless, nonpathogenic strain. This train is engineered to contain mutations that would not allow the E. coli to survive outside the lab without particular nutrients.
- E. coli provides a well-studied and well-known model system to test and troubleshoot new trials on.
Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/
What if plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes were released into the environment despite precautions?
- These genes are used in synthetic biology as selection tools.
- There are lower chances of gene uptake by wild bacteria compared to lab-strain bacteria which have perforated membranes.
- In the case that wild bacteria did uptake the antibiotic resistance gene, that gene would eventually be lost in the population without exposure to the antibiotic, because it is then a disadvantage for the bacteria to carry the unused plasmids. (Evidence observed in past with the decline of specific antibiotic resistance after the human population limited that antibiotic).
