In genetic engineering, human milk proteins may be produced from various microorganisms such as e.coli and some yeasts (candida being one organism they use). Genetic engineering also uses antibiotic restriction enzymes as markers, thus we are combining supposedly innocuous pathogens with antibiotics to produce human proteins. (more complicated than this description). Biotechnologists do not believe that any kind of transformation (to more virulent pathogens) can occur in the human gut. Although there are some scientists who do believe that this is possible and predictable. Who is monitoring whether this is happening? I believe infant formulas and particularly preterm formulas have been genetically engineered for some time. Is this rise in e.coli and candida infections a natural occurrence or is this new "food" science creating some resistant pathogens? Many of the scientists who question this technology have either lost their jobs or have been demoted or receive no funding. Thus any criticism (which good science thrives on) of this new technology has been effectively silenced. Here is a patent that I think people should read to get a further understanding of what is in infant formula and preterm formula (this patent is intended for term as well as preterm formula). It is interesting that some women have donated epithelial cells from their mammary glands in this patent (and in other patents, too). Donated to a Cancer Foundation who must have "given" it to research and the researcher gets to patent from this donated tissue to make infant formula. But then donated milk from human milk banks has been used for other patents. We, woman, are such generous souls. We give it away in hopes to help some poor woman or baby, while some men make money off it. Guess there is no question why men make more money than women, we, women, give everything away. Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html This patent was filed in 1989 but not accepted until 1998. Patent # 5795611 called "Human infant formulas containing recombinant human alpha-lactalbumin and beta-casein." inventor: Slattery "Preparation of a cDNA Library To produce human alpha-lactalbumin and beta-casein in microorganisms, epithelial cells from the human mammary gland must be obtained which may be treated with hormones, such as prolactin, to induce protein synthesis. Appropriate cell lines are commercially available from a variety of sources, such as the Michigan Cancer Foundation. From the prolactin treated cells, mRNA may be obtained by isolating total RNA (J. M. Chirgwin, A. E. Przybyla, R. J. MacDonald and W. J. Rutter, Biochemistry, 18, 5294-5299 (1979)), and then the poly (A)+RNA fraction (H. Avis and P. Leder, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 69, 1408-1412 (1972)). Single and double stranded cDNA are prepared from this (U. Gubler and B. J. Hoffman, Gene, 25, 263-269 (1983)), followed by ligation and transfection to construct the library, ("Current Protocols in Molecular Biology", F. M. Ausubel, R. Brent, R. E. Kingston, D. D. Moore, J. G. Seidman, J. A. Smith and K. Struhl, editors, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1987)) with subsequent isolation of the particular genes. As an alternative procedure, a commercial cDNA library (HZ1037) is available from Clontech Labs, Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.), prepared from human mammary tissue cells from a woman 8 months pregnant. Such a cDNA library has been used (Menon and Ham, J. Cell Biol., 107, 523a (1989); S. Menon and R. G. Ham, Nucl. Acids Res., 17, 2869 (1989)) to prepare, clone and sequence human beta-casein cDNA. Gene Synthesis The complete amino acid sequence is known for both alpha-lactalbumin and beta-casein: ##STR1## (R. Greenberg, M. L. Groves and H. J. Dower. J. Biol. Chem. 259, 5132-5138 (1984)) From a knowledge of the genetic code, the sequence of the nucleic acids in the genes for these proteins may be deduced and the genes themselves produced synthetically. The length of the genes, with three nucleotides per amino acid residue, is within the capabilities of properly equipped laboratories to synthesize. In addition, the ends of the nucleotide chain comprising the gene may be designed for proper incorporation into a chosen plasmid for insertion into the microorganism and may include a start or stop codon. In the example described here, a start codon would not be needed but the sequence should end with a stop codon, such as UAA, and an unpaired sequence, complementary to the restriction endonuclease site, which is "sticky." These genes are capable of introduction into a recipient strain by means of transformation or transfection followed by replication and amplification. The vector molecules used are plasmid DNA or DNA of temperate bacteriophages, viruses or other self-propagating DNA. Many of these methods are described in detail in the following publications: 1. Cohen, S. N.; Chang, A. C. Y; Boyer, H. W. and Helling, R. B. (1973) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 70, 3240. 2. Green, P. J.; Betlach, M. D.; Boyer, H. W. and Goodman, H. N. (1974) Methods in Molecular Biology, 7, 87. 3. Tanaka, T. and Weisblum, B. (1975) J.Bacteriol, 121, 354. 4. Clarke, L. and Carbon, J. (1975) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 72, 4361. 5. Bolivar, F.; Rodrigues, R. L.; Green, P. J.; Betlach, M. C.; Heyneker, H. L. and Boyer, H. W . (1977) Gene, 2, 95. 6. Kozlov, J. I.; Kalinina, N. A.; Gening, L. V.; Rebentish, B. A.; Strongin, A. J.; Bogush, V. G. and Debabov, V. G. (1977) Molec. Gen. Genetics, 150, 211. Introduction of Promoter Sequences Different organisms, of course, recognize different promoter sequences. Therefore, various new promoter sequences appropriate for different host bacteria or yeasts may be introduced onto the genes coding for alpha-lactalbumin and/or beta-casein into a unique site in the vector and for introducing the assembled DNA sequence into a variety of cloning vectors. Alternatively, the new promoter may be introduced via a particular restriction endonuclease site in the plasmid which allows for insertion of the sequence into the genome of any of a variety of appropriate host bacteria or yeast the genes calling for human alpha-lactalbumin or beta-casein. The following are a representative list of hosts and promoters: " *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html