Scientists move to counter threat from biowarfare

Laboratories around the world routinely use genetic engineering to add or delete genetic material as a way to introduce new traits.

Could this expertise be used to create unique organisms for use in a new form of biological warfare?Many scientists think so and are carrying out research to counter such a move.Their task is made difficult, however, because of the widespread application of genetic manipulation and our growing knowledge of the genomes of dangerous organisms.The frightening potential of bioweapons is outlined this morning in a news feature published in the journal Nature.

Entitled "The Bugs of War", it outlines in chilling detail how these technologies could be used to create deadly new weapons.The possibility of micro-organisms being used in this way is not new. The anthrax bacterium and Clostridium botulinum which causes deadly botulism have long been viewed as potential biowarfare risks. Genomics and genetic manipulation make it possible, however, to carry out subtle alterations to an organism, making it more virulent, resistant to drugs and more durable in the environment.The report considers the possibility of extracting the genes for antibiotic resistance from Staphylococcus aureus, which causes near untreatable infections in our hospitals, and inserting them into the plague pathogen, Yersinia pestis. The result would be a dangerous organism made even worse because it would resist drug treatments.Equally chilling is the knowledge that the ability to carry out such a procedure is already within the grasp of hundreds of laboratories around the world. Molecular geneticists have long used plasmids, circular pieces of DNA, as a means of cloning DNA and creating transgenic bacteria. It would be child's play for an experienced researcher to insert the gene for the enzyme beta lactamase, which blocks the action of penicillin, into the anthrax pathogen, Bacillus anthracis. There is also some evidence that manipulations of this kind have already taken place, according to the Nature report.Biopreparat was a network of facilities across Russia and Kazakhstan that worked on biological warfare until 1992. Dr Alastair Hay, an expert on biological warfare at the University of Leeds, debriefed defectors from Biopreparat and they claimed the organisation had developed a form of plague that was resistant to 16 different antibiotics.Using similar techniques it would be possible, for example, to introduce the gene for the deadly Clostridium botulinum toxin into a common bacteria such as E coli. Equally, virulence genes could be transferred into an existing biowarfare agent such as anthrax to increase its dangers.Mixing and matching these traits would be similar to choosing pix 'n mix sweets at the corner store. Complete genetic sequences are now available for the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy and the dangerous food pathogen, E coli O157:H7.Another new technique is known as DNA shuffling. A given gene is first broken into fragments and then the pieces are reassembled in a random way, producing dozens of potential mutant forms. These genes can then be reintroduced into bacteria to see if they express a desired trait.It should be pointed out that DNA shuffling and plasmid technology were developed to advance research in the genetic technologies, not to enhance the potential of bioweapons. They were meant to help develop better drugs and useful proteins and traits, not more virulent disease causing organisms.The report's author, Ms Carina Dennis, pointed out that the techniques used to produce bioweapons are also being used as a countermeasure to them. So far as is known, there is no English translation of Bowles's book. It would be a worthy project to commission a new English translation. (William Reville is a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Director of Microscopy at UCC.)