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Team:Wageningen UR/General safety
From 2013.igem.org
- Safety introduction
- General safety
- Fungi-related safety
- Biosafety Regulation
- Safety Improvement Suggestions
- Safety of the Application
General safety
Researcher Safety
With the classification of four ‘Risk Groups’ of infective microorganisms and safety precautions in four ‘Bio-Safety Levels’, the biological safety and security issues are considered, standardized and handled. These criteria can be found in WHO Laboratory biosafety manual.
Generally, Escherichia coli TOP10 cells are used for cloning. They are derivatives of the non-pathogenic K-12 laboratory strains. In our lab, DH5alpha is used. The detailed information of the E. coli mutations can be found in E.coli wiki. The likelihood of a human getting ill from working with these bacteria is therefore low. The most probable route of transmission would occur by accidental aerosol formation or ingestion. The Environmental Protection Agency states that the K-12 strain (which both DH5-Alpha and JM109 are derivatives of) is poorly retained in the human gut, so the chance of it becoming pathogenic by mutations is low[1]. Mainly for these reasons, this organism is classified as Bio-Safety Level 1.
Aspergillus niger N593, and 872.11 are all derivatives of N400, which is the sequenced CBS strain. They are non-pathogenic industrial workhorses. Additionally, the N593 and 872.11 have the pyrA auxotrophy marker. (see Fungi-related safety).
