Patent ID: 6342215
Filing Date: 2002-01-29
Classification: A61K,A61P,C07K,C12N,C12Q,C12R,Y02A

Abstract:
A mutant microorganism having reduced adaptation to a particular environment obtained by(a) providing a plurality of microorganisms each of which is independently mutated by the insertional inactivation of a gene with a nucleic acid comprising a unique marker sequence so that each mutant contains a different marker sequence, or clones of the mutant microorganisms; (b) providing individually a stored sample of each mutant produced by step (a) and providing individually stored nucleic acid comprising the unique marker sequence from each individual mutant; (c) introducing a plurality of mutants produced by step (a) into the particular environment and allowing those microorganisms which are able to do so to grow in the environment; (d) retrieving microorganisms from the environment or a selected part thereof and isolating the nucleic acid from the retrieved microorganisms; (e) comparing any marker sequences in the nucleic acid isolated in step (d) to the unique marker sequence of each individual mutant stored in step (b); and (f) selecting an individual mutant which does not contain any of the marker sequences isolated in step (d).