Important: New recommendations for risk assessments by the ZKBS (I)

In today's newsletter, we address several new or revised risk assessments by the Central Commission for Biological Safety (ZKBS). In the following article, we inform you about a total of three classifications.

1. First, the ZKBS briefly classified Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium scatologenes and Clostridium sp into risk group 1 as donor and recipient organisms for genetic engineering work.

2. The second brief classification concerns the organism Eubacterium limosum, which is prescribed for genetic engineering work in risk group 2.

3. The ZKBS has also examined the classification of Hortaea werneckii in more detail. This recommendation includes downgrading it to Risk Group 1. This organism, which belongs to the highly melanized, extremely tolerant black yeasts, is characterized by the presence of so-called ohnologes, or second copies, of a large portion of its genes. This makes the organism highly resistant to salt concentrations, temperatures, pH values, desiccation, and UV radiation. Accordingly, Hortaea werneckii is widespread worldwide and in a wide variety of habitats.

The organism is the cause of tinea nigra. This is a dermatomycosis that only colonizes the skin superficially and, apart from discoloration of the affected areas or possible slight scaling, has no other symptoms. Furthermore, the resulting disease is relatively easy to treat.

Hortaea werneckii is already classified in risk group 1 with the suffix + according to TRBA 460. Furthermore, it is classified in risk group 2 according to Section 5 (6) of the GenTSV.

However, the ZKBS recommends classifying Hortaea werneckii in risk group 1 due to the successful treatment options and the rather minor extent of the disease.