Grantee Research Project Results

2023 Progress Report: Developing Microbial Biocontainment Strategies and Their Assessment Methods

EPA Grant Number: R840205
Title: Developing Microbial Biocontainment Strategies and Their Assessment Methods
Investigators: Moon, Tae Seok , Parker, Kimberly M , Diao, Jinjin
Current Investigators: Moon, Tae Seok , Parker, Kimberly M
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Project Period: July 1, 2021 through May 10, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2022 through June 30,2023
Project Amount: $744,262
RFA: Assessment Tools for Biotechnology Products (2020) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Safer Chemicals , Chemical Safety for Sustainability

Objective:

Our long-term vision is to enable the successful development and assessment of biocontainment strategies to understand and prevent the escape of genetically engineered microbes (GEMs) in the environment. To this end, we aim to (1) develop a novel genetic “suicide” circuit that turns on only after the designed “mission” of a GEM is accomplished and (2) assess its function and stability under environmentally-relevant conditions.

Progress Summary:

We have developed the most genetically stable kill switch to date for biocontainment. Additionally, this generalizable kill switch platform has been applied to multiple individual strains and strains in synthetic microbiota. These kill switch strains have been tested using media containing real-world environmental samples. Potential factors contributing to differences in the escape rates between environmental samples and laboratory media were investigated.

Future Activities:

We will develop and assess aromatic-dependent kill switches in soil bacteria such as Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas strains. Notably, it will include the iterative design-build-test-learn cycle to ensure the genetic stability of kill switches under real environmental conditions. We will also evaluate the potential effects of other environmental factors (e.g., temperature) to affect escape rates in environmental media, as well as expand to longer-duration experiments to evaluate the long-term stability of the kill switch in the environment.

Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format

Publications Views
Other project views:	All 9 publications	8 publications in selected types	All 8 journal articles

Publications
Type	Citation	Project	Document Sources
Journal Article	Moon T. Probiotic and microbiota engineering for practical applications. CURRENT OPINION IN FOOD SCIENCE 2024;56(101130)	R840205 (2023)	Full-text: ScienceDirect - Full Text HTML Exit
Journal Article	Xi C, Ma Y, Amrofell M, Moon T. Article Manipulating the molecular specificity of transcriptional biosensors for tryptophan metabolites and analogs. CELL REPORTS PHYSICAL SCIENCE 2024;5(10).	R840205 (2023)	Full-text: ScienceDirect - Full Text HTML Exit

Supplemental Keywords:

genetically modified organism; biosafety; cleanup; genetic circuit

Relevant Websites:

Moon Lab Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.