For our project, we chose the bacteria E. coli k12 because it is one of the least harmful bacterias available with the least amount of side effects. This is necessary because our iGEM group operates in an active classroom.
Last year we started work on a kill switch in case E. Coli escaped the lab. It is a passive kill switch using arabinose. In the lab, the bacteria will always be in the presence of arabinose, but when it escapes, it will kill itself. It is passive so that it will always kill itself, as opposed to active kill switches that act in the presence of something, such as a certain wavelength of light.
