Bioreporters and biosensors for arsenic detection. Biotechnological solutions for a world-wide pollution problem

Biosensing of arsenic by whole-cell bacterial bioreporter immobilized on polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fiber

In recent years, heavy metals derived from several anthropogenic sources have both direct and indirect detrimental effects on the health of the environment and living organisms. Whole-cell bioreporters (WCBs) that can be used to monitor the levels of heavy metals in drinking and natural spring waters are important. In this study, whole-cell arsenic bacterial bioreporters were immobilized using polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fibers as the support material. The aim is to determine the properties of this immobilized bioreporter system by evaluating its performance in arsenic detection. Within the scope of the study, different growth media and fiber immobilization times were tested to determine the parameters affecting the fluorescent signals emitted by the immobilized bioreporter system in the presence of two dominant forms of arsenic, namely arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). In addition, the sensitivity, selectivity, response time, and shelf-life of the developed bioreporter system were evaluated. As far as the literature is concerned, this is the first study to investigate the potential of using PCL-electrospun fiber-immobilized fluorescent bacterial bioreporter for arsenic detection. This study will open new avenues in environmental arsenic monitoring.

Natural Microbial Reactor-Based Sensing Platform for Highly Sensitive Detection of Inorganic Arsenic in Rice Grains

Rice is a major dietary source of inorganic arsenic (iAs), a highly toxic arsenical that accumulates in rice and poses health risks to rice-based populations. However, the availability of detection methods for iAs in rice grains is limited. In this study, we developed a novel approach utilizing a natural bacterial biosensor, Escherichia coli AW3110 (pBB-ArarsR-mCherry), in conjunction with amylase hydrolysis for efficient extraction, enabling high-throughput and quantitative detection of iAs in rice grains. The biosensor exhibits high specificity for arsenic and distinguishes between arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] by modulating the concentration of PO43- in the detection system. We determined the iAs concentrations in 19 rice grain samples with varying total As concentrations and compared our method with the standard technique of microwave digestion coupled with HPLC-ICP-MS. Both methods exhibited comparable results, without no significant bias in the concentrations of As(III) and As(V). The whole-cell biosensor demonstrated excellent reproducibility and a high signal-to-noise ratio, achieving a limit of detection of 16 μg kg-1 [As(III)] and 29 μg kg-1 [As(V)]. These values are considerably lower than the maximum allowable level (100 μg kg-1) for infant rice supplements established by the European Union. Our straightforward sensing strategy presents a promising tool for detecting iAs in other food samples.

De Novo Design of the ArsR Regulated Pars Promoter Enables a Highly Sensitive Whole-Cell Biosensor for Arsenic Contamination

Whole-cell biosensors for arsenic contamination are typically designed based on natural bacterial sensing systems, which are often limited by their poor performance for precisely tuning the genetic response to environmental stimuli. Promoter design remains one of the most important approaches to address such issues. Here, we use the arsenic-responsive ArsR-P_ars regulation system from Escherichia coli MG1655 as the sensing element and coupled gfp or lacZ as the reporter gene to construct the genetic circuit for characterizing the refactored promoters. We first analyzed the ArsR binding site and a library of RNA polymerase binding sites to mine potential promoter sequences. A set of tightly regulated P_ars promoters by ArsR was designed by placing the ArsR binding sites into the promoter's core region, and a novel promoter with maximal repression efficiency and optimal fold change was obtained. The fluorescence sensor P_lacV-P_arsOC2 constructed with the optimized P_arsOC2 promoter showed a fold change of up to 63.80-fold (with green fluorescence visible to the naked eye) at 9.38 ppb arsenic, and the limit of detection was as low as 0.24 ppb. Further, the optimized colorimetric sensor P_lacV-P_arsOC2-lacZ with a linear response between 0 and 5 ppb was used to perform colorimetric reactions in 24-well plates combined with a smartphone application for the quantification of the arsenic level in groundwater. This study offers a new approach to improve the performance of bacterial sensing promoters and will facilitate the on-site application of arsenic whole-cell biosensors.

A New Strategy for As(V) Biosensing Based on the Inhibition of the Phosphatase Activity of the Arsenate Reductase from Thermus thermophilus

Arsenic (As) pollution is a widespread problem worldwide. In recent years, biosensors based on enzymatic inhibition have been developed for arsenic detection, making the study of the effect of inhibitors on the selected enzymatic activity crucial for their setup. The arsenate reductase of Thermus thermophilus HB27, TtArsC, reduces As(V) into As(III), but is also endowed with phosphatase activity. This work investigates the inhibitory effects of As(V) and As(III) on phosphatase activity by taking advantage of a simple colorimetric assay; the results show that both of them are non-competitive inhibitors affecting the Vmax but not the K_M of the reaction. However, their Ki values are different from each other (15.2 ± 1.6 μM for As(V) and 394.4 ± 40.3 µm with As(III)), indicating a higher inhibitory effect by As(V). Moreover, the inhibition-based biosystem results to be selective for As(V) since several other metal ions and salts do not affect TtArsC phosphatase activity; it exhibits a sensitivity of 0.53 ± 0.03 mU/mg/μM and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.28 ± 0.02 μM. The good sensitivity and specificity for As(V) point to consider inhibition of TtArsC phosphatase activity for the setup of a novel biosensor for the detection of As(V).

Golden Gate Assembly of Aerobic and Anaerobic Microbial Bioreporters

Microbial bioreporters provide direct insight into cellular processes by producing a quantifiable signal dictated by reporter gene expression. The core of a bioreporter is a genetic circuit in which a reporter gene (or operon) is fused to promoter and regulatory sequences that govern its expression. In this study, we develop a system for constructing novel Escherichia coli bioreporters based on Golden Gate assembly, a synthetic biology approach for the rapid and seamless fusion of DNA fragments. Gene circuits are generated by fusing promoter and reporter sequences encoding yellow fluorescent protein, mCherry, bacterial luciferase, and an anaerobically active flavin-based fluorescent protein. We address a barrier to the implementation of Golden Gate assembly by designing a series of compatible destination vectors that can accommodate the assemblies. We validate the approach by measuring the activity of constitutive bioreporters and mercury and arsenic biosensors in quantitative exposure assays. We also demonstrate anaerobic quantification of mercury and arsenic in biosensors that produce flavin-based fluorescent protein, highlighting the expanding range of redox conditions that can be examined by microbial bioreporters. IMPORTANCE Microbial bioreporters are versatile genetic tools with wide-ranging applications, particularly in the field of environmental toxicology. For example, biosensors that produce a signal output in the presence of a specific analyte offer less costly alternatives to analytical methods for the detection of environmental toxins such as mercury and arsenic. Biosensors of specific toxins can also be used to test hypotheses regarding mechanisms of uptake, toxicity, and biotransformation. In this study, we develop an assembly platform that uses a synthetic biology technique to streamline construction of novel Escherichia coli bioreporters that produce fluorescent or luminescent signals either constitutively or in response to mercury and arsenic exposure. Beyond the synthesis of novel biosensors, our assembly platform can be adapted for numerous applications, including labelling bacteria for fluorescent microscopy, developing gene expression systems, and modifying bacterial genomes.

Homogentisic Acid-Based Whole-Cell Biosensor for Detection of Alkaptonuria Disease

Clinicians require simple quantitative tools for the detection of homogentisic acid in alkaptonuria patients, a rare inherited disorder of amino acid metabolism. In this study, we report a whole-cell biosensor for homogentisic acid to detect alkaptonuria disease through the expression of green fluorescence protein. The assay system utilizes a promoter sequence (hmgA) isolated from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome. To increase the sensitivity, the sensor module harboring phmgA::GFP was further transformed into various transposon mutants debilitated in steps involved in the metabolism of phenylalanine and tyrosine via homogentisic acid as a central intermediate. The proposed biosensor was further checked for analytical features such as sensitivity, selectivity, linearity, and precision for the quantification of homogentisic acid in spiked urine samples. The limit of detection for the developed biosensor was calculated to be 3.9 μM, which is comparable to that of the various analytical techniques currently in use. The sensor construct showed no interference from all of the amino acids and its homolog molecules. The accuracy and precision of the proposed biosensor were validated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with satisfactory results.

Development of a Highly Sensitive Whole-Cell Biosensor for Arsenite Detection through Engineered Promoter Modifications

Whole-cell biosensors have attracted considerable interests because they are robust, eco-friendly, and cost-effective. However, most of the biosensors harness the naturally occurring wild-type promoter, which often suffers from high background noise and low sensitivity. In this study, we demonstrate how to design the core elements (i.e., RNA polymerase binding site and transcription factor binding site) of the promoters to obtain a significant gain in the signal-to-noise output ratio of the whole-cell biosensor circuits. As a proof of concept, we modified the arsenite-regulated promoter from Escherichia coli K-12 genome, such that it has a lower background and higher expression. This was achieved by balancing the relationship between the number of ArsR binding sites (ABS) and the activity of the promoter and adjusting the location of the auxiliary ABS. A promoter variant ParsD-ABS-8 was obtained with an induction ratio of 179 (11-fold increase over the wild-type promoter) when induced with 1 μM arsenite. Importantly, the developed biosensor exhibited good dose-response in the range of 0.1 to 4 μM (R² = 0.9928) of arsenite with a detection limit of ca. 10 nM. These results indicated that the engineered promoter modification approach could be used to improve the performance of whole-cell biosensors, thereby facilitating their practical application.

Highly Sensitive As3+ Detection Using Electrodeposited Nanostructured MnOx and Phase Evolution of the Active Material during Sensing

A simple, one-step electrodeposition approach has been used to fabricate MnO_x on an indium-doped tin oxide substrate for highly sensitive As³⁺ detection. We report an experimental limit of detection of 1 ppb through anodic stripping voltammetry with selectivity to As³⁺ in the presence of 10 times higher concentrations of several metal ions. Additionally, we report the simultaneous phase evolution of active material occurring through multiple stripping cycles, wherein MnO/Mn₂O₃ eventually converts to Mn₃O₄ as a result of change in the oxidation states of manganese. This occurs with concomitant changes in morphology. Change in the electronic property (increased charge transfer resistance) of the material due to sensing results in an eventual decrease in sensitivity after multiple stripping cycles. In a nutshell, this paper reports stripping-voltammetry-induced change in morphology and phase of as-prepared Mn-based electrodes during As sensing.

The Arsenic-Binding Aptamer Cannot Bind Arsenic: Critical Evaluation of Aptamer Selection and Binding

An arsenic-binding aptamer named Ars-3 was reported in 2009, and it has been used for detection of As(III) in more than two dozen papers. In this work, we performed extensive binding assays using isothermal titration calorimetry, various DNA-staining dyes, and gold nanoparticles. By carefully comparing Ars-3 and a few random control DNA sequences, no specific binding of As(III) was observed in each case. Therefore, we conclude that Ars-3 cannot bind As(III). Possible reasons for some of the previously reported binding and detection were speculated to be related to the adsorption of As(III) onto gold surfaces, which were used in many related sensor designs, and As(III)/Au interactions were not considered before. The selection data in the original paper were then analyzed in terms of sequence alignment, secondary structure prediction, and dissociation constant measurement. These steps need rigorous testing before confirming specific binding of newly selected aptamers. This study calls for attention to the gap between aptamer selection and biosensor design, and the gap needs to be filled by careful binding assays to further the growth of the aptamer field.

Adsorption of Arsenite on Gold Nanoparticles Studied with DNA Oligonucleotide Probes

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been extensively used for detecting arsenite, As(III). Many methods rely on a DNA aptamer that claimed to bind specifically to inorganic arsenic. In these cases, the focus was on arsenic binding to the aptamer, while the potential interactions between As(III) and the AuNP surface were ignored. Herein, a set of spectroscopic and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) experiments were conducted to measure the adsorption of As(III) by AuNPs and its competition with DNA adsorption. With 10 mM As(III), 18% of adsorbed DNA was displaced from AuNPs, while preadsorption of only 20 μM As(III) inhibited DNA adsorption by around 50%. The affinity of As(III) on AuNPs is comparable to Br^- and guanosine. ITC and Raman spectroscopy both indicated that only As(III) can be adsorbed, while As(V) had no measurable interactions with the AuNPs. Based on this understanding, a random DNA sequence was used and a similar colorimetric response in the presence of As(III) was observed. This study confirmed the affinity between As(III) and the gold surface. The As(III)/gold interaction is strong enough to affect DNA adsorption, and care should be taken to interpret the observations based on the color change of AuNPs for the detection of As(III).

Sensitive and Specific Whole-Cell Biosensor for Arsenic Detection

Whole-cell biosensors (WCBs) have been designed to detect As(III), but most suffer from poor sensitivity and specificity. In this paper, we developed an arsenic WCB with a positive feedback amplifier in Escherichia coli DH5α. The output signal from the reporter mCherry was significantly enhanced by the positive feedback amplifier. The sensitivity of the WCB with positive feedback is about 1 order of magnitude higher than that without positive feedback when evaluated using a half-saturation As(III) concentration. The minimum detection limit for As(III) was reduced by 1 order of magnitude to 0.1 µM, lower than the World Health Organization standard for the arsenic level in drinking water, 0.01 mg/liter or 0.13 µM. Due to the amplification of the output signal, the WCB was able to give detectable signals within a shorter period, and a fast response is essential for in situ operations. Moreover, the WCB with the positive feedback amplifier showed exceptionally high specificity toward As(III) when compared with other metal ions. Collectively, the designed positive feedback amplifier WCB meets the requirements for As(III) detection with high sensitivity and specificity. This work also demonstrates the importance of genetic circuit engineering in designing WCBs, and the use of genetic positive feedback amplifiers is a good strategy to improve the performance of WCBs.IMPORTANCE Arsenic poisoning is a severe public health issue. Rapid and simple methods for the sensitive and specific monitoring of arsenic concentration in drinking water are needed. In this study, we designed an arsenic WCB with a positive feedback amplifier. It is highly sensitive and able to detect arsenic below the WHO limit level. In addition, it also significantly improves the specificity of the biosensor toward arsenic, giving a signal that is about 10 to 20 times stronger in response to As(III) than to other metals. This work not only provides simple but effective arsenic biosensors but also demonstrates the importance of genetic engineering, particularly the use of positive feedback amplifiers, in designing WCBs.

Fiber optic surface-plasmon-resonance-based highly sensitive arsenic sensor prepared using α-Fe2O3/SnO2 core-shell nanostructure with optimized probe parameters

A novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based fiber optic arsenic [As (III)] sensor is presented using α-Fe₂O₃/SnO₂ core-shell nanostructure [abbreviated as (α-Fe/Sn) CS] synthesized using hydrolysis. Due to its extraordinary properties, such as very large surface area, great adsorption capabilities, and chemical reactivity, α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles offer excellent sensitivity and selectivity for As (III), while SnO₂ shows great catalytic properties. To achieve the best sensing performance, the (α-Fe/Sn) CS is synthesized at different temperatures, and its morphological study is carried out using transmission electron microscopy. The performance of the probe fabricated over the silver-coated unclad core of the fiber with optimized fabrication temperature and attachment time of (α-Fe/Sn) CS is investigated for 0-100 μg/L concentration of As (III). The sensor possesses the limit of detection of 0.47 μg/L. Further, the roles of common interferands in sensor performance are investigated. The sensor possesses the advantages of real-time detection, capability of remote sensing, and online monitoring, which uphold its industrial application.

Bacterial bioreporter detection of arsenic associated with iron oxides

Bacterial bioreporters are engineered microorganisms that have found recent application as a low-cost method of detecting arsenic (As) in environmental systems. However, no assessment exists of bioreporter detection of particle-bound As. We applied an Escherichia coli-based bioreporter to assess the bioavailability of As(v) adsorbed by goethite (α-FeOOH), 2-line ferrihydrite and As(v) co-precipitated with Fe(iii). We found that As(v) bound to the surface of crystalline goethite was not detected by the bioreporters, which contrasted sharply the 50% detection of As(v) adsorbed by ferrihydrite. In addition, the presence of Ca2+ caused a systematic decrease in the bioreporter-detected As(v) fraction in the ferrihydrite samples. For co-precipitated As(v)-Fe(iii) samples, we found a similar bioreporter-detected As(v) fraction (<0.2) regardless of crystallite size (0.7-2.5 nm) or As Fe-1 surface loading (10-60 mol%). Our results reveal that the bioreporter response depends largely on aggregated particle size, which is expected to physically isolate As(v) from bioreporters by encapsulating surface-bound As(v) in coagulated flocs. Our results show that while bioreporters do not perform optimally in water that contains Fe particles, this method could be developed for sludge testing and for monitoring As levels in the product water of decentralized Fe-based As treatment systems.

Current status of water environment and their microbial biosensor techniques - Part II: Recent trends in microbial biosensor development

In Part I of the present review series, I presented the current state of the water environment by focusing on Japanese cases and discussed the need to further develop microbial biosensor technologies for the actual water environment. I comprehensively present trends after approximately 2010 in microbial biosensor development for the water environment. In the first section, after briefly summarizing historical studies, recent studies on microbial biosensor principles are introduced. In the second section, recent application studies for the water environment are also introduced. Finally, I conclude the present review series by describing the need to further develop microbial biosensor technologies. Graphical abstract Current water pollution indirectly occurs by anthropogenic eutrophication (Part I). Recent trends in microbial biosensor development for water environment are described in part II of the present review series.

Ultrasensitive point-of-care testing of arsenic based on a catalytic reaction of unmodified gold nanoparticles

Ultrasensitive arsenic detection based on inhibition of a catalytic reaction between Rhodamine B and sodium borohydride.

Design and evaluation of an incoherent feed-forward loop for an arsenic biosensor based on standard iGEM parts

The diversity and flexibility of life offers a wide variety of molecules and systems useful for biosensing. A biosensor device should be robust, specific and reliable. Inorganic arsenic is a highly toxic water contaminant with worldwide distribution that poses a threat to public health. With the goal of developing an arsenic biosensor, we designed an incoherent feed-forward loop (I-FFL) genetic circuit to correlate its output pulse with the input signal in a relatively time-independent manner. The system was conceived exclusively based on the available BioBricks in the iGEM Registry of Standard Biological Parts. The expected behavior in silico was achieved; upon arsenic addition, the system generates a short-delayed reporter protein pulse that is dose dependent to the contaminant levels. This work is an example of the power and variety of the iGEM Registry of Standard Biological Parts, which can be reused in different sophisticated system designs like I-FFLs. Besides the scientific results, one of the main impacts of this synthetic biology project is the influence it had on team’s members training and career choices which are summarized at the end of this article.

Mechanistic Modeling of Genetic Circuits for ArsR Arsenic Regulation

Bioreporters are living cells that generate an easily measurable signal in the presence of a chemical compound. They acquire their functionality from synthetic gene circuits, the configuration of which defines the response signal and signal-to-noise ratio. Bioreporters based on the Escherichia coli ArsR system have raised significant interest for quantifying arsenic pollution, but they need to be carefully optimized to accurately work in the required low concentration range (1-10 μg arsenite L^-1). To better understand the general functioning of ArsR-based genetic circuits, we developed a comprehensive mechanistic model that was empirically tested and validated in E. coli carrying different circuit configurations. The model accounts for the different elements in the circuits (proteins, DNA, chemical species), and their detailed affinities and interactions, and predicts the (fluorescent) output from the bioreporter cell as a function of arsenite concentration. The model was parametrized using existing ArsR biochemical data, and then complemented by parameter estimations from the accompanying experimental data using a scatter search algorithm. Model predictions and experimental data were largely coherent for feedback and uncoupled circuit configurations, different ArsR alleles, promoter strengths, and presence or absence of arsenic efflux in the bioreporters. Interestingly, the model predicted a particular useful circuit variant having steeper response at low arsenite concentrations, which was experimentally confirmed and may be useful as arsenic bioreporter in the field. From the extensive validation we expect the mechanistic model to further be a useful framework for detailed modeling of other synthetic circuits.

Paper-Based Microfluidic Device with a Gold Nanosensor to Detect Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Bangladesh

In this paper, we present a microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) with a gold nanosensor functionalized with α-lipoic acid and thioguanine (Au–TA–TG) to detect whether the arsenic level of groundwater from hand tubewells in Bangladesh is above or below the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline level of 10 μg/L. We analyzed the naturally occurring metals present in Bangladesh groundwater and assessed the interference with the gold nanosensor. A method was developed to prevent interference from alkaline metals found in Bangladesh groundwater (Ca, Mg, K and Na) by increasing the pH level on the μPADs to 12.1. Most of the heavy metals present in the groundwater (Ni, Mn, Cd, Pb, and Fe II) did not interfere with the μPAD arsenic tests; however, Fe III was found to interfere, which was also prevented by increasing the pH level on the μPADs to 12.1. The μPAD arsenic tests were tested with 24 groundwater samples collected from hand tubewells in three different districts in Bangladesh: Shirajganj, Manikganj, and Munshiganj, and the predictions for whether the arsenic levels were above or below the WHO guideline level agreed with the results obtained from laboratory testing. The μPAD arsenic test is the first paper-based test validated using Bangladesh groundwater samples and capable of detecting whether the arsenic level in groundwater is above or below the WHO guideline level of 10 μg/L, which is a step towards enabling the villagers who collect and consume the groundwater to test their own sources and make decisions about where to obtain the safest water.

Chemically individual armoured bioreporter bacteria used for the in vivo sensing of ultra-trace toxic metal ions

A chemically engineered mesoporous silica armour is developed for simultaneously improving bioreporter bacterial vitality and shielding infectivity.

Label-free, rapid and quantitative phenotyping of stress response in E. coli via ramanome

Rapid profiling of stress-response at single-cell resolution yet in a label-free, non-disruptive and mechanism-specific manner can lead to many new applications. We propose a single-cell-level biochemical fingerprinting approach named “ramanome”, which is the collection of Single-cell Raman Spectra (SCRS) from a number of cells randomly selected from an isogenic population at a given time and condition, to rapidly and quantitatively detect and characterize stress responses of cellular population. SCRS of Escherichia coli cells are sensitive to both exposure time (eight time points) and dosage (six doses) of ethanol, with detection time as early as 5 min and discrimination rate of either factor over 80%. Moreover, the ramanomes upon six chemical compounds from three categories, including antibiotics of ampicillin and kanamycin, alcohols of ethanol and n-butanol and heavy metals of Cu²⁺ and Cr⁶⁺, were analyzed and 31 marker Raman bands were revealed which distinguish stress-responses via cytotoxicity mechanism and variation of inter-cellular heterogeneity. Furthermore, specificity, reproducibility and mechanistic basis of ramanome were validated by tracking stress-induced dynamics of metabolites and by contrasting between cells with and without genes that convey stress resistance. Thus ramanome enables rapid prediction and mechanism-based screening of cytotoxicity and stress-response programs at single-cell resolution.

Paralogous Regulators ArsR1 and ArsR2 of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 as a Basis for Arsenic Biosensor Development

The remarkable metal resistance of many microorganisms is related to the presence of multiple metal resistance operons. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 can be considered a model for these microorganisms since its arsenic resistance is due to the action of proteins encoded by the two paralogous arsenic resistance operons ARS1 and ARS2. Both operons contain the genes encoding the transcriptional regulators ArsR1 and ArsR2 that control operon expression. We show here that purified ArsR1 and ArsR2 bind the trivalent salt of arsenic (arsenite) with similar affinities (~30 μM), whereas no binding is observed for the pentavalent salt (arsenate). Furthermore, trivalent salts of bismuth and antimony showed binding to both paralogues. The positions of cysteines, found to bind arsenic in other homologues, indicate that ArsR1 and ArsR2 employ different modes of arsenite recognition. Both paralogues are dimeric and possess significant thermal stability. Both proteins were used to construct whole-cell, lacZ-based biosensors. Whereas responses to bismuth were negligible, significant responses were observed for arsenite, arsenate, and antimony. Biosensors based on the P. putida arsB1 arsB2 arsenic efflux pump double mutant were significantly more sensitive than biosensors based on the wild-type strain. This sensitivity enhancement by pump mutation may be a convenient strategy for the construction of other biosensors. A frequent limitation found for other arsenic biosensors was their elevated background signal and interference by inorganic phosphate. The constructed biosensors show no interference by inorganic phosphate, are characterized by a very low background signal, and were found to be suitable to analyze environmental samples.

IMPORTANCE

Arsenic is at the top of the priority list of hazardous compounds issued by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease. The reason for the stunning arsenic resistance of many microorganisms is the existence of paralogous arsenic resistance operons. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a model organism for such bacteria, and their duplicated ars operons and in particular their ArsR transcription regulators have been studied in depth by in vivo approaches. Here we present an analysis of both purified ArsR paralogues by different biophysical techniques, and data obtained provide valuable insight into their structure and function. Particularly insightful was the comparison of ArsR effector profiles determined by in vitro and in vivo experimentation. We also report the use of both paralogues to construct robust and highly sensitive arsenic biosensors. Our finding that the deletion of both arsenic efflux pumps significantly increases biosensor sensitivity is of general relevance in the biosensor field.

Detection of Metal and Organometallic Compounds with Bioluminescent Bacterial Bioassays

Chemical detection of metal and organometallic compounds is very specific and sensitive, but these techniques are time consuming and expensive. Although these techniques provide information about the concentrations of compounds, they fail to inform us about the toxicity of a sample. Because the toxic effects of metals and organometallic compounds are influenced by a multitude of environmental factors, such as pH, the presence of chelating agents, speciation, and organic matter, bioassays have been developed for ecotoxicological studies. Among these bioassays, recombinant luminescent bacteria have been developed over the past 20 years, and many of them are specific for the detection of metals and metalloids. These bioassays are simple to use, are inexpensive, and provide information on the bioavailable fraction of metals and organometals. Thus, they are an essential complementary tool for providing information beyond chemical analysis. In this chapter, we propose to investigate the detection of metals and organometallic compounds with bioluminescent bacterial bioassays and the applications of these bioassays to environmental samples. Graphical Abstract.

Amplification of small molecule-inducible gene expression via tuning of intracellular receptor densities

Ligand-responsive transcription factors in prokaryotes found simple small molecule-inducible gene expression systems. These have been extensively used for regulated protein production and associated biosynthesis of fine chemicals. However, the promoter and protein engineering approaches traditionally used often pose significant restrictions to predictably and rapidly tune the expression profiles of inducible expression systems. Here, we present a new unified and rational tuning method to amplify the sensitivity and dynamic ranges of versatile small molecule-inducible expression systems. We employ a systematic variation of the concentration of intracellular receptors for transcriptional control. We show that a low density of the repressor receptor (e.g. TetR and ArsR) in the cell can significantly increase the sensitivity and dynamic range, whereas a high activator receptor (e.g. LuxR) density achieves the same outcome. The intracellular concentration of receptors can be tuned in both discrete and continuous modes by adjusting the strength of their cognate driving promoters. We exemplified this approach in several synthetic receptor-mediated sensing circuits, including a tunable cell-based arsenic sensor. The approach offers a new paradigm to predictably tune and amplify ligand-responsive gene expression with potential applications in synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology.

DNA adsorption by magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and its application for arsenate detection

Iron oxide nanoparticles adsorb fluorescently labeled DNA oligonucleotides via the backbone phosphate and quench fluorescence. Arsenate displaces adsorbed DNA to increase fluorescence, allowing detection of arsenate down to 300 nM. This is a new way of using DNA: analyte recognition relies on its phosphate instead of the bases.

Therapeutic and analytical applications of arsenic binding to proteins

Knowledge of arsenic binding to proteins advances the development of bioanalytical techniques and therapeutic drugs.

Biosensors for inorganic and organic arsenicals

Arsenic is a natural environmental contaminant to which humans are routinely exposed and is strongly associated with human health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. To date, a number of biosensors for the detection of arsenic involving the coupling of biological engineering and electrochemical techniques has been developed. The properties of whole-cell bacterial or cell-free biosensors are summarized in the present review with emphasis on their sensitivity and selectivity. Their limitations and future challenges are highlighted.

Advances in arsenic biosensor development--a comprehensive review

Biosensors are analytical devices having high sensitivity, portability, small sample requirement and ease of use for qualitative and quantitative monitoring of various analytes of human importance. Arsenic (As), owing to its widespread presence in nature and high toxicity to living creatures, requires frequent determination in water, soil, agricultural and food samples. The present review is an effort to highlight the various advancements made so far in the development of arsenic biosensors based either on recombinant whole cells or on certain arsenic-binding oligonucleotides or proteins. The role of futuristic approaches like surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and aptamer technology has also been discussed. The biomethods employed and their general mechanisms, advantages and limitations in relevance to arsenic biosensors developed so far are intended to be discussed in this review.

Escherichia [corrected] coli ribose binding protein based bioreporters revisited

Bioreporter bacteria, i.e., strains engineered to respond to chemical exposure by production of reporter proteins, have attracted wide interest because of their potential to offer cheap and simple alternative analytics for specified compounds or conditions. Bioreporter construction has mostly exploited the natural variation of sensory proteins, but it has been proposed that computational design of new substrate binding properties could lead to completely novel detection specificities at very low affinities. Here we reconstruct a bioreporter system based on the native Escherichia coli ribose binding protein RbsB and one of its computationally designed variants, reported to be capable of binding 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). Our results show in vivo reporter induction at 50 nM ribose, and a 125 nM affinity constant for in vitro ribose binding to RbsB. In contrast, the purified published TNT-binding variant did not bind TNT nor did TNT cause induction of the E. coli reporter system.

Biosensor for organoarsenical herbicides and growth promoters

The toxic metalloid arsenic is widely distributed in food, water, and soil. While inorganic arsenic enters the environment primarily from geochemical sources, methylarsenicals either result from microbial biotransformation of inorganic arsenic or are introduced anthropogenically. Methylarsenicals such as monosodium methylarsonic acid (MSMA) have been extensively utilized as herbicides, and aromatic arsenicals such as roxarsone (Rox) are used as growth promoters for poultry and swine. Organoarsenicals are degraded to inorganic arsenic. The toxicological effects of arsenicals depend on their oxidation state, chemical composition, and bioavailability. Here we report that the active forms are the trivalent arsenic-containing species. We constructed a whole-cell biosensor utilizing a modified ArsR repressor that is highly selective toward trivalent methyl and aromatic arsenicals, with essentially no response to inorganic arsenic. The biosensor was adapted for in vitro detection of organoarsenicals using fluorescence anisotropy of ArsR-DNA interactions. It detects bacterial biomethylation of inorganic arsenite both in vivo and in vitro with detection limits of 10(-7) M and linearity to 10(-6) M for phenylarsenite and 5 × 10(-6) M for methylarsenite. The biosensor detects reduced forms of MSMA and roxarsone and offers a practical, low cost method for detecting activate forms and breakdown products of organoarsenical herbicides and growth promoters.

Variation in composition and relative content of accumulated photopigments in a newly isolated Rhodobacter capsulatus strain XJ-1 in response to arsenic

This study aimed to isolate and characterize a new arsenic (As)-tolerant bacterial strain (XJ-1) from the Halosol soil, to evaluate its As tolerance, and to examine the variation in composition and relative content of accumulated photosynthetic pigments in response to As. The experiments were performed with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and grayscale intensity image analysis using Gel-Pro analyzer software. Strain XJ-1 was identified as Rhodobacter (R.) capsulatus based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and physiological characteristics. Strain XJ-1 was able to grow when exposed to arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] under anaerobic-light conditions. The median effective concentrations (EC50) of As(III) and As(V) were 0.61 mM and 2.03 mM, respectively. Strain XJ-1 could reduce As(V) to As(III), but As(III) could not be transformed back to As(V) or other organic As compounds. Accumulation of bacteriochlorophylls and carotenoids in strain XJ-1 varied in the presence of 0.2-1.2 mM As(III) and 0-2.5 mM As(V). As exposure resulted in pronounced variation in compositions and contents of photosynthetic pigments, especially hydroxyspheroidene, bacteriophaeophytin, the ratio of tetrahydrogeranylgeranyl to phytylated BChl a, and the ratio of spheroidene to spheroidenone. This research highlights the adaptative response of R. capsulatus strain XJ-1 photosystems to environmental As, and demonstrates the potential of utilizing the sensitivity of its photosynthetic pigments to As(III) and As(V) for the biodetection of As in the environment.

Compact portable biosensor for arsenic detection in aqueous samples with Escherichia coli bioreporter cells

We present a compact portable biosensor to measure arsenic As(III) concentrations in water using Escherichia coli bioreporter cells. Escherichia coli expresses green fluorescent protein in a linearly dependent manner as a function of the arsenic concentration (between 0 and 100 μg/L). The device accommodates a small polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic chip that holds the agarose-encapsulated bacteria, and a complete optical illumination/collection/detection system for automated quantitative fluorescence measurements. The device is capable of sampling water autonomously, controlling the whole measurement, storing and transmitting data over GSM networks. We demonstrate highly reproducible measurements of arsenic in drinking water at 10 and 50 μg/L within 100 and 80 min, respectively.

Fluorescence-based bacterial bioreporter for specific detection of methyl halide emissions in the environment

Methyl halides are volatile one-carbon compounds responsible for substantial depletion of stratospheric ozone. Among them, chloromethane (CH3Cl) is the most abundant halogenated hydrocarbon in the atmosphere. Global budgets of methyl halides in the environment are still poorly understood due to uncertainties in their natural sources, mainly from vegetation, and their sinks, which include chloromethane-degrading bacteria. A bacterial bioreporter for the detection of methyl halides was developed on the basis of detailed knowledge of the physiology and genetics of Methylobacterium extorquens CM4, an aerobic alphaproteobacterium which utilizes chloromethane as the sole source of carbon and energy. A plasmid construct with the promoter region of the chloromethane dehalogenase gene cmuA fused to a promotorless yellow fluorescent protein gene cassette resulted in specific methyl halide-dependent fluorescence when introduced into M. extorquens CM4. The bacterial whole-cell bioreporter allowed detection of methyl halides at femtomolar levels and quantification at concentrations above 10 pM (approximately 240 ppt). As shown for the model chloromethane-producing plant Arabidopsis thaliana in particular, the bioreporter may provide an attractive alternative to analytical chemical methods to screen for natural sources of methyl halide emissions.