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Team:Alberta/FAQ
From 2013.igem.org
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| - | < | + | <h3>Doesn’t <i>E. coli</i> cause food poisoning? If <i>E. coli</i> is so dangerous, why are they being used in labs?</h3> |
<ul> | <ul> | ||
<li>Normal <i>E. coli</i> colonize the lower intestine of humans, while <b>producing Vitamin K</b> and | <li>Normal <i>E. coli</i> colonize the lower intestine of humans, while <b>producing Vitamin K</b> and | ||
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<p>Reference: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/"> | <p>Reference: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/"> | ||
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/</a></p> | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1728375/</a></p> | ||
| - | < | + | <h3>What if plasmids containing <b>antibiotic resistance genes</b> were released into the environment despite |
| - | precautions?</ | + | precautions?</h3> |
<ul> | <ul> | ||
<li>These genes are used in synthetic biology as selection tools.</li> | <li>These genes are used in synthetic biology as selection tools.</li> | ||
Revision as of 22:34, 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).
