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Updated: Oct 4, 2026

Compost Microcosms as Microbially Diverse, Natural-like Environments for Microbiome Research in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: September 13, 2022
Experimental microcosms as models of natural ecosystems for monitoring survival of genetically modified microorganism
Popova LYu1, N S Pechurkin, E E Maksimova
1Institute of Biophysics (Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch), Krasnoyarsk, Russia. lubg@post.krascince.rssi.ru
Abstract:
An experimental approach for investigation of genetically modified microorganisms (GMMO) introduced into model ecosystems to evaluate potential risk of propagation of recombinant plasmids in surrounding medium has been developed. The object of modeling was Escherichia coli Z905 strain with a recombinant plasmid with bacterial luminescence genes, which was introduced into water microcosms of different structure. The approach involves comprehensive investigation of GMMO at four hierarchical levels: molecular (retaining the structure of the plasmid and expression of cloned genes); cellular (variation of metabolic activity); population (competitive power and metabolic interactions of GMMO with indigenous microflora, migration of recombinant and natural plasmids); ecosystem (effect of GMMO and cloned genes on ecosystem parameters). The experimental evidence and theoretical estimates are intended to form grounds to develop a basic version of an ecological certificate for different GMMO variants.
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