19 - Genetic engineering approaches for detecting environmental pollutants

Abstract

In the last few decades, different anthropogenic activities have increased the generation of environmental pollutants. The release of hazardous compounds causes a severe impact on organisms and the environment. Pollutants such as heavy metals, toxic compounds and explosives’ residues remain the primary target for degradation and removal. Therefore an urgent need has arisen to detect and remediate these ever-increasing toxic pollutants properly. A biosensor is an analytical device used for easy and rapid detection of targeted compounds. In order to detect environmental pollutants, numerous genetically engineered whole-cell biosensors have been created. In this chapter, we highlight various engineered biosensor designs for the detection of environmental pollutants while also providing an insight into the latest biotechnological advances used so far to develop novel biosensors.