[Progress of environmental monitoring and biological containment system on genetically engineered microorganisms]

With the development of biological technology, many genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMs) for special purposes have been constructed and developed, but their practical applications in the field are still limited because GEMs may cause new environmental contaminations. To minimize the potential risks, the organisms released to environment need to be monitored and restricted for their distribution. In the laboratory conditions, the GEMs can be wiped off when required using some new biological technologies. The recent progress of research on the monitoring methods and active biological containment system for GEMs were reviewed in this paper.