Whole-cell biodetection of halogenated organic acids

Merav Tauber, Rachel Rosen, Shimshon Belkin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

A whole-cell bacterial sensor system for short-chain halo-organic acids was constructed, using 2-chloropropionic acid (2-CPA) as a model pollutant. An Escherichia coli host was transformed with a moderate-copy plasmid containing a fusion of two foreign genetic elements: (a) a promoter-containing segment of the Pseudomonas DL-DEX (DL-2-haloacid dehalogenase) encoding gene and (b) bioluminescence (luxCDABE) genes of Photorhabdus luminescens. The resulting construct, named MT1, responded to the presence of 2-CPA by dose-dependent light emission, in a highly specific albeit a very insensitive manner. Thus, while the desired concept was successfully demonstrated, further genetic work is needed in order to make such a construct practical for environmental monitoring purposes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)959-964
Number of pages6
JournalTalanta
Volume55
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 13 Dec 2001

Keywords

  • Bioluminescence
  • Escherichia coli
  • Halogenated organic acids
  • Microbial biosensors

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