Pg. Nugent et al., PERSONAL MONITORING OF EXPOSURE TO GENETICALLY-MODIFIED MICROORGANISMS IN BIOAEROSOLS - RAPID AND SENSITIVE DETECTION USING PCR, Journal of aerosol science, 28(3), 1997, pp. 525-538
E. coli XL1-B cells, genetically modified to contain the gene for the
commerically important food-processing enzyme, bovine chymosin, were a
erosolised in growth media to simulate a breach of containment. Aeroso
ls were generated in a well-characterised bioaerosol test chamber, and
sampled using two commonly employed workplace aerosol samplers-the Cy
clone static ''area'' sampler, and the IOM Personal Inspirable Aerosol
Sampler. PCR-based detection procedures were developed for the specif
ic, sensitive, and rapid, detection and discrimination of both capture
d aerosolised genetically modified and unmodified E. coli cells. The I
OM personal sampler proved to be more useful than the cyclone sampler
for aerosol capture and subsequent analysis using the PCR procedure. I
t allowed an apparent lower limit of detection of an aerosol containin
g 1.7 x 10(4) cells m(-3), with results being obtained within 4-5 h af
ter sample collection. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.