by
David Tribe on 14 June 2011
From GMO Pundit.
The latest news is that the German outbreak strain of Escherichia coli is a member of small family of germs called EAEC that includes an African member (Ec55989 ). This family is clearly distinct from classical EHEC (=STEC) bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7. The Pundit will now start calling them EAEC/STEC recombinant or hybrid germs, or alternatively Shigatoxin production EAECs.
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| Family tree for E. coli using genome sequence data. |
Just hours back, as part of an astonishingly fast international crowdsourcing effort,
Konrad Paszkiewicz from University of Exeter and Kat Holt University of Melbourne have taken great advantage of genome data kindly and very wisely freely made available to the scientific community by the several
E. coli genome sequencing groups. Konrad and Kat have just now completed a preliminary family tree for the germs based on relevant genetic point mutation changes in the “genome backbone” genes.
This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 7 June 2011
From GMO Pundit.
STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes « bacpathgenomics: “STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes”
Kat Holt has produced a fantastic visual presentation of the family tree of the German disease causing
E. coli EHEC/
EAEC/STEC germ.
The Pundit won’t spoil her story with too much comment:
In the German outbreak bacteria, as in most E. coli, plenty of horizontal transfer has gone on to create the genome we are now looking at.
I’ve done about all I’m going to on this analysis, at least until some more complete data is released… but I did generate a summary plot and have a quick look at the origins of the stx, ter and other acquired genes.
This is a quick look at what the outbreak strain’s genome looks like:
This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 31 May 2011
From GMO Pundit.
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| E. coli can survive for a long time on composted soils |
Germany is fatally sick. There is a lethal elephant in the room. This is that elephant:
“Use of animal wastes in fertilization of fresh fruits and vegetable plots significantly increased the risk of E. coli contamination in fresh produce grown in semi-organic and organic farms.”
The article is:
Association of farm management practices with risk of Escherichia coli contamination in pre-harvest produce grown in Minnesota and Wisconsin
Continue reading…
This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 15 March 2011
From GMO Pundit.
Gilles- Eric Seralini has won a court case in Paris over the issue of whether his funding by Greenpeace may have influenced his scientific judgement.
Richard Hudson of ABC radio in Western Australia interviewed Seralini on this matter[link to ABC webpage], and also asked David Tribe to comment about the merits of Seralini’s scientific arguments (strongly criticised elsewhere on GMO Pundit website, for instance in Sad Seralini Statistical Saga and GMO statistics Part 5. FSANZ say non-validated statistical dredging doesn’t mean much).
Seralini has also been strongly criticised by expert statisticians for the mistakes he has made in analysing of experiments done with rats to see how they react to genetically modified corn feed.
In this interview with David Tribe we hear about the difference between statistical significance (mentioned by Seralini) and biological significance (not properly evaluated by Seralini).
Continue reading…
This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 1 February 2011
From GMO Pundit.
The genetic modification of bacteria in French science classes has sparked concern.
Nature Magazine News 31 January 2011
A row has broken out in France over whether 15- and 16-year-olds should be allowed to create transgenic Escherichia coli bacteria in the classroom.
Practical experiments in which students learn how to use plasmids to alter the DNA of the bacteria have been under way for 17 and 18-year-olds in the final year of the scientific baccalaureate at schools across France for the past decade. But this year teachers have for the first time been offered the option of teaching the experiments to younger students.
Continue reading…
This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
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