Word: detective
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...approval before injecting elm trees with bacteria designed to combat Dutch elm disease. This week Clemson University scientists, mindful of public fears about the escape of dangerous microbes, will begin a potentially revolutionary, 18-month test of special blue bacteria that have been modified so that researchers can readily detect their presence in the environment...
Monsanto scientists responded by changing the site to South Carolina and reformulating their strategy. Instead of using bacteria with the insecticide- producing gene, the company applied to release a strain engineered only to produce enzymes that enable it to digest lactose and X-Gal. Researchers could then detect the presence of migrating bacteria by dropping soil samples onto the lactose-based, X-Gal-laced growth medium...
...agreed to the new test, primarily because of the innovative mechanisms for tracking the bacteria. In addition to turning blue, the bugs have been engineered to resist the antibiotic rifampicin -- a combination of properties that makes it possible to detect the presence of a single Pseudomonas among the billion or so microorganisms that may exist in a thimbleful of soil. Explains Margaret Mellon, manager of the National Wildlife Federation's biotechnology project: "This system is an important advance. In and of itself, it doesn't answer questions about whether bioengineered organisms are in general more or less safe than their...
...nitrogen in the soil. In one of the California ice- minus tests, however, scientists have been able to monitor the spread of anti- icing bacteria on potato plants. The marker system in this case was rifampicin resistance, less sensitive than Monsanto's multiple indicator but still able to detect the presence of as few as 100 bacteria in a handful of leaves. The bacteria were successful as well as trackable: ice-minus appears to reduce frost damage early in the growing season...
...avid yachtsman, Hoyle has had a close view of environmental damage at sea. "The problem becomes vivid when you sail into an oil slick and have to spend several days cleaning up the boat." The impact of man-made substances on weather shifts is much harder to detect. "You can't see it, touch it or smell it," says Hoyle. "That is precisely what makes the scientific discovery process so important." And precisely what makes this week's cover story such a good detective yarn...