Team:Queens Canada/Safety/FAQs
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Transgenic C.elegans would pose a minimal risk to the environment for reasons similar to why they would pose a minimal risk to humans. The extrachomosomal assay previously mentioned makes transgenic C.elegans less robust than wild type worms in most situations. The exception for this would be in an environment heavily contaminated by toxic hydrocarbons. Our transgenic worms would be better at using the hydrocarbons as an energy source. Upon the completion of the bioremediation process however, the advantage possessed by the transgenic worms would disappear and they would once again be out competed by wild type worms. Therefore it is unlikely that the transgenic worms would be able to establish any stable ecological niche. Another concern is that transgenic C. elegans could mate with wild type worms to produce hybrid offspring. While it is possible these genes could propagate through the genetic matrix in this way, they confer an advantage only in the most limited and transient of circumstances. Therefore it is highly unlikely that our constructs would contaminate the C. elegans gene pool with any degree of substance or efficiency. | Transgenic C.elegans would pose a minimal risk to the environment for reasons similar to why they would pose a minimal risk to humans. The extrachomosomal assay previously mentioned makes transgenic C.elegans less robust than wild type worms in most situations. The exception for this would be in an environment heavily contaminated by toxic hydrocarbons. Our transgenic worms would be better at using the hydrocarbons as an energy source. Upon the completion of the bioremediation process however, the advantage possessed by the transgenic worms would disappear and they would once again be out competed by wild type worms. Therefore it is unlikely that the transgenic worms would be able to establish any stable ecological niche. Another concern is that transgenic C. elegans could mate with wild type worms to produce hybrid offspring. While it is possible these genes could propagate through the genetic matrix in this way, they confer an advantage only in the most limited and transient of circumstances. Therefore it is highly unlikely that our constructs would contaminate the C. elegans gene pool with any degree of substance or efficiency. | ||
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- | <h3red1> | + | <h3red1>d. Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups or states?</h3red1> <br> |
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- | + | C. elegans is a low risk organism for malicious genetic manipulation for a variety of reasons. First, C. elegans is significantly more difficult to work with than a standard E. coli chassis. While E. coli can be engineered with a simple heat shock procedure, C. elegans requires expensive micro-injection equipment and highly trained injectors. Furthermore, C. elegans has never been known to pathogenic to humans, and would be more difficult to modify for such a purpose than a chassis like E. coli. which has well known pathogenic strains. That being said, the novel nature of the C. elegans chassis does carry some risks. C. elegans has been known to exist symbiotically with some bacteria. C. Elegans’ known harmlessness could be a bioterrorism advantage, with the worm acting as a carrier to deliver pathogens past biological detection systems. The worm is also more advanced than E.coli, and is able to access a significant genetic arsenal (via splicing, RNAi, etc.) that is barred from lower organisms. As an eukaryotic organism, the worm is also more robust than its bacterial counterparts. It is insensitive to antibiotics because reproductive nature gives it a greater genetic diversity than most bacteria. A pathogenic C. elegans would be significantly harder to kill than bacteria yielding the same genetic weapons. Regardless, we still think C. elegans is a low risk chassis. While its novel nature does confer some unique options for harmful purposes, a simple chassis like E. coli offers significantly more potential for such purposes . E. coli propagates more quickly, is simpler, and thus more easily manipulated than C. elegans. | |
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Revision as of 23:41, 17 September 2011