Multilayered genetic safeguards limit growth of microorganisms to defined environments.

ABSTRACT: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are commonly used to produce valuable compounds in closed industrial systems. However, their emerging applications in open clinical or environmental settings require enhanced safety and security measures. Intrinsic biocontainment, the creation of bacterial hosts unable to survive in natural environments, remains a major unsolved biosafety problem. We developed a new biocontainment strategy containing overlapping 'safeguards'-engineered riboregulators that tightly control expression of essential genes, and an engineered addiction module based on nucleases that cleaves the host genome-to restrict viability of Escherichia coli cells to media containing exogenously supplied synthetic small molecules. These multilayered safeguards maintain robust growth in

SUBMITTER: Gallagher RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4330353 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature