FEBRUARY 15-16 - MINUTES OF MEETING 
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Executive Secretary's Note : The plasmids can be considered EK2 vectors 
when propagated in ^1776. 
VII. PROKARYOTES OTHER THAN E. COLI AS HOST-VECTOR SYSTEMS . 
This issue was considered at a meeting held at Stanford University on 
September 12 , 1978 of the Working Group on Prokaryote Host-Vectors Other 
than E. coli . The purpose of that meeting was to explore other candidate 
prokaryotic organisms as HV1 systems. The group considered Bacillus and 
Streptomyces systems as possible additions to the presently approved EK1 
and EK2 systems. The Working Group report was considered by the RAC at 
its October 30-31, 1978 meeting. The report was modified and approved 
by the RAC (604). The recommendations were summarized and published for 
public comment in the Federal Register on January 15, 1979. No comments 
were received during the 30-day period for comment. 
A. EXEMPTION OF BACILLUS SPECIES THAT EXCHANGE GENETIC INFORMATION. 
The RAC considered the following proposal for exemption of certain 
Bacillus species on the basis of exchange of genetic information: 
" Bacillus subtilis related species that have been shewn 
to exchange chromosomal DNA will be included under the 
exemption category of Section I-E-4 of the 1978 Guidelines. 
Any recombinant DNA molecules that are composed entirely 
of CNA segments from one or more of the organisms listed 
below and to be propagated in any of the organisms listed 
belcw are exempt from the Guidelines. (This list is to be 
separate from that which already exists in Appendix A for 
exchangers with E. coli .) 
Bacillus subtilis 
Bacillus licheniformis 
Bacillus globigii 
Bacillus niger 
Bacillus nato 
Bacillus pumilus 
Bacillus amyloliguefaciens 
Bacillus aterrimus" 
The basis of this list is that these organisms exchange chromosomal 
DNA by transformation. Dr. Gottesman summarized the criteria for 
exchange of genetic information. The Director, NIH, to date has 
accepted for exemption I-E-4 organisms which exchange chromosomal 
genetic information which becomes stably integrated into the host 
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