Set of Enzymatic Bioassays for Assessment of Soil Contamination

The Role of Cosolvent-Water Interactions in Effects of the Media on Functionality of Enzymes: A Case Study of Photobacterium leiognathi Luciferase

A complex heterogeneous intracellular environment seems to affect enzymatic catalysis by changing the mobility of biomolecules, their stability, and their conformational states, as well as by facilitating or hindering continuously occurring interactions. The evaluation and description of the influence of the cytoplasmic matrix components on enzymatic activity are problems that remain unsolved. In this work, we aimed to determine the mechanisms of action of two-component media with cosolvents of various molecular sizes on the complex multi-stage bioluminescent reaction catalyzed by bacterial luciferase. Kinetic and structural effects of ethylene glycol, glycerol, sorbitol, glucose, sucrose, dextran, and polyethylene glycol on bacterial luciferase were studied using stopped-flow and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques and molecular dynamics simulations. We have found that diffusion limitations in the presence of cosolvents promote the stabilization of flavin substrate and peroxyflavin intermediate of the reaction, but do not provide any advantages in bioluminescence quantum yield, because substrate binding is slowed down as well. The catalytic constant of bacterial luciferase has been found to be viscosity-independent and correlated with parameters of water-cosolvent interactions (Norrish constant, van der Waals interaction energies). Crowding agents, in contrast to low-molecular-weight cosolvents, had little effect on peroxyflavin intermediate decay and enzyme catalytic constant. We attributed specific kinetic effects to the preferential interaction of the cosolvents with enzyme surface and their penetration into the active site.

Toxicity of Different Types of Surfactants via Cellular and Enzymatic Assay Systems

Surfactants have a widespread occurrence, not only as household detergents, but also in their application in industry and medicine. There are numerous bioassays for assessing surfactant toxicity, but investigations of their impact on biological systems at the molecular level are still needed. In this paper, luminous marine bacteria and their coupled NAD(P)H:FMN-oxidoreductase + luciferase (Red + Luc) enzyme system was applied to examine the effects of different types of surfactants, including cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), non-ionic polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80) and anionic sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and to assess whether the Red + Luc enzyme system can be used as a more sensitive indicator of toxicity. It was shown that the greatest inhibitory effect of the surfactants on the activity of luminous bacteria and the Red + Luc enzyme system was in the presence of SLS samples. The calculated IC₅₀ and EC₅₀ values of SLS were 10^-5 M and 10^-2 M for the enzymatic and cellular assay systems, respectively. The results highlight the benefits of using the enzymatic assay system in ecotoxicology as a tool for revealing surfactant effects on intracellular proteins if the cellular membrane is damaged under a long-term exposure period in the presence of the surfactants. For this purpose, the bioluminescent enzyme-inhibition-based assay could be used as an advanced research tool for the evaluation of surfactant toxicity at the molecular level of living organisms due to its technical simplicity and rapid response time.

Bioluminescent-Inhibition-Based Biosensor for Full-Profile Soil Contamination Assessment

A bioluminescent-enzyme-inhibition-based assay was applied to predict the potential toxicity of the full profile of the following soil samples: agricultural grassland, 10-year fallow land (treated with remediation processes for 10 years) and uncontaminated (virgin) land. This assay specifically detects the influence of aqueous soil extracts from soils on the activity of a coupled enzyme system of luminescent bacteria: NAD(P)H:FMN-oxidoreductase + luciferase (Red + Luc). It was shown that the inhibitory effect of the full-profile soil samples on the Red + Luc system decreased with depth for the 10-year fallow-land and virgin-land samples, which correlated with a decrease in the humic organic matter content in the soils. The inhibitory effect of the agricultural grassland on the Red + Luc enzyme system activity was more complex and involved the presence of the humic organic matter content, as well as the presence of pollutants in the whole-soil profile. However, if the interfering effect of humic organic substances on the Red + Luc system’s activity is taken into account during full-profile soil toxicity assessments, it might help to detect pollutant mobility and its leaching into the subsoil layer. Thus, this bioluminescent method, due to the technical simplicity, rapid response time and high sensitivity, has the potential to be developed as a biological part of the inhibition-based assay and/or biosensors for the preventive tracing of potential full-profile soil contamination.

Adaptation of a Bacterial Bioluminescent Assay to Monitor Bioeffects of Gold Nanoparticles

Our current study aimed to adapt a bioluminescent bacteria-based bioassay to monitor the bioeffects of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Luminous marine bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum and AuNPs modified with polyvinylpyrrolidone were employed; low-concentration (≤10−3 g/L) bioeffects of AuNPs were studied. Bioluminescence intensity was used as an indicator of physiological activity in bacteria. Two additional methods were used: reactive oxygen species (ROS) content was estimated with a chemiluminescent luminol method, and bacterial size was monitored using electron microscopy. The bacterial bioluminescent response to AuNPs corresponded to the “hormesis” model and involved time-dependent bioluminescence activation, as well as a pronounced increase in the number of enlarged bacteria. We found negative correlations between the time courses of bioluminescence and the ROS content in bacterial suspensions, demonstrating the relationship between bioluminescence activation and bacterial ROS consumption. The combined effects of AuNPs and a beta-emitting radionuclide, tritium, revealed suppression of bacterial bioluminescent activity (as compared to their individual effects) and a reduced percentage of enlarged bacteria. Therefore, we demonstrated that our bacteria-based bioluminescence assay is an appropriate tool to study the bioeffects of AuNPs; the bioeffects can be further classified within a unified framework for rapid bioassessment.

Design of bioluminescent biosensors for assessing contamination of complex matrices

The presence of potentially toxic xenobiotics in complex matrices has become rather the rule than the exception. Therefore, there is a need for highly sensitive inexpensive techniques for analyzing environmental and food matrices for toxicants. Enzymes are selectively sensitive to various toxic compounds, and, thus, they can be used as the basis for detection of contaminants in complex matrices. There are, however, a number of difficulties associated with the analysis of complex matrices using enzyme assays, including the necessity to take into account properties and effects of the natural components of the test media for accurate interpretation of results. The present study describes the six-stage procedure for designing new enzyme sensors intended for assessing the quality of complex matrices. This procedure should be followed both to achieve the highest possible sensitivity of the biosensor to potentially toxic substances and to minimize the effect of the uncontaminated components of complex mixtures on the activity of the biosensor. The proposed strategy has been tested in designing a bioluminescent biosensor for integrated rapid assessment of the safety of fruits and vegetables. The biosensor is based on the coupled enzyme system NAD(P)H:FMN-oxidoreductase and luciferase as the biorecognition element. The study describes methods and techniques for attaining the desired result in each stage. The proposed six-stage procedure for designing bioluminescent enzyme biosensors can be used to design the enzymatic biosensors based on other enzymes.

Software for Matching Standard Activity Enzyme Biosensors for Soil Pollution Analysis

This work is dedicated to developing enzyme biosensor software to solve problems regarding soil pollution analysis. An algorithm and specialised software have been developed which stores, analyses and visualises data using JavaScript programming language. The developed software is based on matching data of 51 non-commercial standard soil samples and their inhibitory effects on three enzyme systems of varying complexity. This approach is able to identify the influence of chemical properties soil samples, without toxic agents, on enzyme biosensors. Such software may find wide use in environmental monitoring.

A noninvasive and qualitative bioluminescent assay for express diagnostics of athletes' responses to physical exertion

Upcoming professional sports authorities seek rapid noninvasive biosensing tools for regular monitoring of athletes' physiological states. The analysis of saliva through luminescence-based biosensors has been perceived as a suitable candidate for such purposes. The present study reports a qualitative bioluminescence assay based on a coupled enzyme system that consists of bacterial luciferase (BLuc) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH):flavin mononucleotide (FMN) oxidoreductase (Red), BLuc-Red, for the express diagnostics of athletes' stress levels before and after physical exertion. The volunteers who participated in the study were grouped as freestyle wrestlers and students who adapted to different levels of physical activities. Under physical exertion modelling conditions, the influence of participant saliva on BLuc-Red catalyzed light emission was investigated. Results showed a significant increase in residual luminescence (I_exp , mean maximum bioluminescence intensity of the experimental measurement (I_exp ); I_c , luminescence intensity in control; I_exp /I_c , %) values for participants in the wrestler group while a decrease in the student group (P < 0.05). Such contrasting residual luminescence values in both groups were found to be dependent on the catalase activity of saliva. The proposed bioluminescence assay can be utilized as a potential nonspecific biosensing tool for determining the physical state of athletes under high loads.