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New Advance Confines GMOs To the Lab Instead of Living In the Wild
BarbaraHudson (3785311) writes In Jurassic Park, scientists tweak dinosaur DNA so that the dinosaurs were lysine-deficient in order to keep them from spreading in the wild. Scientists have taken this one step further as a way to keep genetically modified E. coli from surviving outside the lab.
In modifying the bacteria's DNA to thwart escape, two teams altered the genetic code to require amino acids not found in nature. One team modified the genes that coded for proteins crucial to cell functions so that that produced proteins required the presence of the synthetic amino acid in the protein itself. The other team focused on 22 genes deemed essential to a bacterial cell's functions and tied the genes' expression to the presence of synthetic amino acids.
For the bacteria to survive, these synthetic amino acids had to be present in the medium on which the bacteria fed. In both cases, the number of escapees was so small as to be undetectable."
Isn't this how they kept the dinosaurs from escaping in the first Jurassic Park book? And we all know how well that worked out... CHAOS THEORY!
A mutation in the DNA undoes the genetic engineering and we've got a new strain of e. coli in the wild.
``the number of escapees was so small as to be undetectable``.
This doesn`t exactly sound encouraging. Even one escapee out of trillions of bacteria, through the wonder of exponential clonal replication, will result in escape. This method might buy a day or two. And I haven`t even mentioned natural selections proclivity to ruin even the most well thought out containment schemes. And that messing with the basic cell machinery will greatly reduce the viability (and economic productivity) of these bugs.
http://news.firedoglake.com/20...
The provision protects genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks and has thus been dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by activists who oppose the biotech giant. President Barack Obama signed the spending bill, including the provision, into law on Tuesday
Since the act’s passing, more than 250,000 people have signed a petition opposing the provision and a rally, consisting largely of farmers organized by the Food Democracy Now network, protested outside the White House Wednesday. Not only has anger been directed at the Monsanto Protection Act’s content, but the way in which the provision was passed through Congress without appropriate review by the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. The biotech rider instead was introduced anonymously as the larger bill progressed — little wonder food activists are accusing lobbyists and Congress members of backroom dealings.
So they are letting modified E.Coli out into the wild. And they can't detect it, and who honestly knows if some mutation is or is not going to allow the bacteria to still live and thrive.
How to they propose to prevent these lab E. coli from mutating the ability to survive in the wild?
It would take a LOT more than 1 mutation. They modified over 1% of the DNA.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
And now they can sell farmers the missing ingredient!
Way back in the 1970s, a scientist named Roy Curtiss engineered Chi-1776: a strain of E. Coli for precisely these purposes. It was unable to synthesize d-amino pimelic acid, it couldn't exchange plasmids(*) with other bacteria, it was killed by detergents and UV radiation, and so on.
It was subsequently discovered that the survival of Chi-1776 was greatly enhanced when a plasmid commonly used for research was added.
Chi-1776 was also found difficult to work with. The very safeguards that made it safe for experimental use also made it difficult to grow. In fermentors it was outcompeted by just about everything else in the environment, so absolutely sterile environments were required, and this turns out to be very difficult in practice.
In response, researchers turned to a strain labelled K-12 which had a higher survival rate than Chi-1776, but couldn't infect the digestive tract and also couldn't survive in the wild.
Also, despite strict procedures in place for chemical or physical disinfection, K-12 was subsequently found in the sewer systems supporting the University of Texas.
Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it, or so they say. Does that statement apply to the current situation?
(*) A plasmid is a "loop" of DNA that is sometimes exchanged between bacteria. It's a method of propagating useful survival traits without going through the full reproductive cycle.
Turn in your geek card. It actually goes...
God creates Dinosaurs
God destroys Dinosaurs
God creates Man
Man destroys God
Man creates Dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs eat Man, Woman inherits the Earth.
Not to mention that bacteria have been known to transfer genes between bacterium near them. (Bacteria: The original file sharers!) Say one of these gets out and encounters a similar bacteria without the "confinement genes". Could it laterally transfer genes that would help it survive without the "lab required environment"?
I'm not saying we should never experiment on anything (we should) or that building in safeties like this isn't a good idea (it is), but we should never let our guard down and say "We've thought of everything! This has fully secured us against any possible problem!"
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
the end is near
Yes, it's possible, but very very unlikely.
That means over a long enough time, it will happen.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Are we this dumb? Yes, apparently we are. We haven't grasped the idea of just because we can do something doesn't mean that we have to do it.
I'm sorry you have been attacked by the terminator virus you will need daily pills to survive for the rest of your life. These pills are available at the low low cost of $10 each.
I know it's too much to expect people to RTFA, but as others have pointed out it would take much more than 1 mutation. The main point the "doom and gloomers" are missing is that these modifications are designed to complement existing containment techniques.
Think of it as a potential way for researchers to more safely work with deadly bacterium such as anthrax. They would still use all of the traditional containment methods, but have an additional fail-safe built in. Ultimately these researchers hope to come up with multiple overlapping safeguards to provide even better safety.
It's beyond me, how anyone could object to making it harder for bacteria to escape from the lab!!