Development of Colorimetric Whole-Cell Biosensor for Detection of Heavy Metals in Environment for Public Health

Yihyang Kim, Hyeunseok Choi, Weon Ho Shin, Jong-Min Oh, Sang-Mo Koo, Younghun Kim, Taek Lee, Byung Jo Yu and Chulhwan Park
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Yihyang Kim: Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Hyeunseok Choi: Eco-friendly Convergence Materials Research Part, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Cheonan 31056, Korea
Weon Ho Shin: Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Jong-Min Oh: Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Sang-Mo Koo: Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Younghun Kim: Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Taek Lee: Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea
Byung Jo Yu: Eco-friendly Convergence Materials Research Part, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Cheonan 31056, Korea
Chulhwan Park: Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: Heavy metals cause various fetal diseases in humans. Heavy metals from factory wastewater can contaminate drinking water, fish, and crops. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) are commonly used to analyze heavy metal contents; however, these methods require pre-treatment processes and are expensive and complex. To overcome these limitations, three metal-sensing materials using a whole-cell biosensor in Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) were developed. Strains were engineered to harbor three kinds of plasmids containing the copA , zntA , and mer promoters for sensing copper, cadmium, and mercury, respectively. The luciferase ( lux ) gene was inserted as a reporter into the plasmid, which was later replaced with a fused protein sequence containing OmpA (1–159) and mCherry for optical detection. The constructed strains could detect mercury, cadmium, and copper at 0.1–0.75 ppm, 0.2–0.75 ppm, and 2–7.5 ppm, respectively, with linearity values of 0.99030, 0.99676, and 0.95933, respectively. The immobilization linearity value was 0.99765. Notably, these three heavy metals could be detected by visual analysis of the strains. Overall, these findings establish this novel sensor as a potential approach for heavy metal detection in biological samples and foods.

Keywords: heavy metal; whole-cell biosensor; promoter; reporter gene; bioluminescence; red fluorescent protein; immobilization; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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