SPADA Book - April 11, 2017

Saccharomyces cerevisiae NE095

• Designed to challenge nucleic-acid based detection technologies • Target DNA sequence inserted via homologous recombination - Conveys specificity - Eliminates false positives from near-neighbors - Sequencing confirms one copy per genome • Lyophilized format

ERCC-00095*

Methanocaldococcus jannaschii

* External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) - NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2374: DNA Sequence Library for External RNA Controls - ERCC-00095 corresponds to the latter three (of eight) open reading frames in the phosphate specific transport complex component of M. jannaschii

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S. cerevisiae NE095 in lieu of Biothreat Agents

No false positives in real events from equipment contamination

No green light for threat assay validation

Minimized real and perceived risk

Readily available, can use almost anywhere

Baker’s yeast

BSL-2

BSL-3

Low DNA extraction efficiency, similar to Bacillus spores

DNA target eliminates environmental false positives

Lyophilized yeast can be crushed into a powder

Quantitative material can track performance

time

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