Team:Alberta/FAQ

From 2013.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 7: Line 7:
     }
     }
     .bin {
     .bin {
-
       background:url('/wiki/images/thumb/2/26/Background.png/541px-Background.png');
+
       background:url('/wiki/images/e/e4/2013AlbertaBackground.png');
       background-size:100% auto;
       background-size:100% auto;
       padding-top:20px;
       padding-top:20px;
Line 387: Line 387:
         <li><a id="project" href="#">Project</a>
         <li><a id="project" href="#">Project</a>
           <ul>
           <ul>
-
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Project">Overview</a></li>
+
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Background">Background</a></li>
-
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Methodology">Methodology</a></li>
+
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Overview">Overview</a></li>
-
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Applications">Applications</a></li>
+
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/FutureDevelopment">Future Development</a></li>
           </ul>
           </ul>
         </li>
         </li>
         <li><a id="notebook" href="#">Notebook</a>
         <li><a id="notebook" href="#">Notebook</a>
           <ul>
           <ul>
-
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Notebook">Timeline</a></li>
+
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Results">Results</a></li>
 +
            <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Protocols">Protocols</a></li>
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Parts">BioBricks</a></li>
             <li><a href="/Team:Alberta/Parts">BioBricks</a></li>
           </ul>
           </ul>

Revision as of 19:30, 24 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).