Team:Harvard/fences/safety
From 2010.igem.org
safety
Barnase
While Barnase (in the absense of Barstar) is lethal to any cell in which it is produced, studies have shown that Barnase producing plants pose no risk to consumers. Studies have consistently shown that no detectable amounts of Barnase are found in the tissue of plants containing the Barnase encoding gene. This should come as no surprise, as any cell producing Barnase even for a short amount of time will very quickly cease to exist. It has also been shown that Barnase shows no similarity to any known allergens or toxins, and even if ingested will be inactivated in the stomach due to the low pH.
Carver J, and Walker WA (1995). The role of nucleotides in human nutrition. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry 6: 58-72. Information on RNA in food and its digestion.
Delaney B, Astwood JD, Cunny H, Conn RE, Herouet-Guicheney C, Macintosh S, Meyer LS, Privalle L, Gao Y, Mattsson J, Levine M; ILSI International Food Biotechnology Committee Task Force on Protein Safety (2008). Evaluation of protein safety in the context of agricultural biotechnology. Food and Chemical Toxicology 46 Suppl 2:S71-97. Epub 2008 Feb 2.
FDA (1996). Biotechnology Consultation Note to the File BNF No. 000031. March 15, 1996. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~rdb/bnfm031.html accessed Jan 7 2009. “The corn line containing transformation event MS3 and its progeny are not materially different in composition, safety, and other relevant parameters from conventional corn varieties.”
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