PostNatural Organism of the Month:

E. coli x1776

This variant of the standard lab bacteria E. coli K-12, was an attempt to engineer a relatively harmless bacteria, such that it was no longer able to survive outside of the laboratory environment.  Named in honor of the bicentennial anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, E. coli x1776, was produced in direct response to the discussions of the 1975 International Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules. The conference invited researchers from a variety of backgrounds to share concerns over the emerging practice of transgenics (inserting pieces of DNA from one species into another). It was suggested that one method of containing the new, and still suspect, engineered organisms would be to genetically cripple their ability to function in the natural environment. E. coli x1776 was developed at Dr. Roy Curtis's lab and was briefly employed in the industrial production of insulin among other research. However, the bacteria was found to be difficult to work with and was abandoned as biocontainment regulations became more relaxed. The habitat of x1776 is now suspected of being limited to the samples that are housed in long-term storage repositories.