DOWNLOAD

CONTENTS

How to download these files

Illuminating DNA is available as downloadable Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files.

Details of how to obtain a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software are given here.

Each of the practical exercises in the booklet includes some brief safety guidelines, indicating the main hazards associated with the work. However, the procedures that constitute good microbiological practice are described in greater detail in this four-page section.

The description of these procedures is essential reading for several of the exercises.

This section includes brief guidance on each of the following:

• sources of microbes;
• maintenance and storage of cultures;
• good microbiological practice;
• aseptic techniques;
• incubation of cultures;
• disposal and sterilisation, including the use and routine care of autoclaves;
• chemical sterilisation;
• use of disposable plastic items;
• microbial transformation and work with DNA.

IMPORTANT UPDATE (OCTOBER 2001)

Naked DNA

DNA only gains a biological function by being inserted into a living cell. Hence work with DNA itself ('naked' DNA) is not generally thought to constitute a safety hazard even if new nucleic acid molecules are formed.

Risks associated with most activities that might foreseeably be undertaken with naked DNA in school laboratories, such as cutting with restriction enzymes, ligation and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can therefore be controlled by normal good laboratory practice.

Under the new regulations in the UK [The Genetically-Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations, 2000], there is one exception to this. Full length copies of viral DNA that are infectious in their own right will legally be regarded as microorganisms even when they are not encapsulated or enveloped.

This means that if full-length viral DNA (such as DNA from phage lambda) were to be combined with DNA from other sources, technically a genetically-modified organism would have been created, even if that DNA is not inserted into an organism. For such work to be undertaken, under UK law, the premises must be registered with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a Genetic Modification Safety Committee would have to be established to help carry out safety assessments.

Consequently, one of the ideas suggested as a 'Further investigation' on page 37 of the original 'Illuminating DNA', where lambda DNA is ligated with plasmid DNA, can no longer be undertaken on non-registered premises.

The PDF version of page 37 (which is downloadable from this linked Web page) has been altered accordingly.

Safety guidelines for practical work with DNA can be found here.

Copyright © National Centre for Biotechnology Education, 2006 | www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk