Team:Edinburgh OG/HP/Silver

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SILVER REQUIREMENT

How we have identified, investigated and addressed
the biosafety issue in the context of the ExpandED project.


Since the Edinburgh OG iGEM 2016 team has directly worked with non-model organisms and, ultimately, the goal of our project is to encourage future iGEM teams to use these microorganisms as well as domesticate additional, novel microorganisms, we have an obligation to review and inform the current situation regarding the use of non-model organisms, its regulatory framework and its biosafety and biosecurity status.

As previously mentioned, the intended expansion of strains to be used within the context of synthetic biology (SynBio) through the domestication of uncommon microorganisms comes with biosafety and biosecurity issues that need to be addressed properly. For example, when analysing our microorganisms, we found out that filamentous fungi are able to produce a wide array of important secondary metabolites (e.g. naphto-γ-pyrones and ß-lactam antibiotics, such as penicillin) with diverse biological activities relevant for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries: antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-tubercular, anti-HIV and anti-hyperuricuric (Choque et al. 2014). Nonetheless, they may also produce mycotoxins that can cause unwanted health and environmental problems, such as human disease (myxotoxicoses) (Peraica et al. 1999) and food and silage spoilage (Filtenborg et al. 1996).