12 
Meeting held in April 1980. He said a Request for Proposals (RFP) , to 
determine if mice can mount an antibody response to insulin produced by 
E. coli host-vector systems, will be presented to the NIAID Advisory 
Council in the near future. In addition, a Request for Grant Applications 
(RFA) developed in conjunction with the National Institute of Arthritis, 
Metabolism and Digestive Diseases to investigate the absorption of peptide 
hormones by the intestine will soon be presented to the NIAID Advisory 
Council. 
Dr. Krause reported that a contract has been awarded to the University of 
Minnesota to develop a comprehensive course on microbiological principles 
and techniques for work with potentially hazardous agents, including recom- 
binant DNA organisms. 
Dr. Krimsky asked if NIAID might prepare a review article on risk assess- 
ment on recombinant DNA. Dr. Krause said he would take this suggestion 
under advisement. Et . Nutter noted that the annual update synopsizes 
information on the progress made during the year. Dr. Goldstein supported 
Dr. Krimsky' s position saying that such a review would be valuable. 
Dr. Williams pointed out that the update contains a surrmary and that full 
reports had been published in the Recombinant ENA Technical Bulletin and 
in refereed journals. Dr. Wright requested that the update be footnoted 
and the sources cited. Dr. Krause invited individual comments from all 
RAC members during the 90 day public comment period. 
XI. PROPOSED HV2 BACILLUS SUBTILIS HOST-VECTOR SYSTEMS 
Dr. Campbell noted that the request (tabs 931/4, 936) from Dr. William F. 
Burke, Jr., Arizona State University, to certify Bacillus subtilis strain 
ASB298 as the host component of an HV2 host-vector system had been discussed 
at the June 1980 meeting. He said the RAC had requested additional data 
on DNA transfer by transformation from ASB298 to other Bacilli . Dr. Burke 
provided supplemental information demonstrating: (1) in soil, plasmid 
pBD64 does not transform competent B^ subtilis under conditions where 
chromosomal ENA transforms 40% of competent recipient cells; (2) plasmid- 
bearing wild-type B^ subtilis donates a barely detectable number of 
plasmids to competent recipient bacteria in the soil, whereas no transfer 
from ASB298 was detected; and (3) under optimal laboratory conditions, 
ASB298 donates a chromosomal marker at barely detectable levels. 
Dr. Campbell questioned whether plasmid transformation frequency had been 
measured under optimum conditions, as the recipient bacteria did not con- 
tain homologous plasmids. Dr. Gottesman moved that ASB298 be certified as 
the host component of an HV2 system on the basis of (1) the poor' surviva- 
bility of the strain; (2) its poor ability to donate DNA for transforma- 
tion; (3) the high probability that plasmid vectors will transform very 
poorly. 
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