Bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuits: potentially small, rugged and inexpensive whole-cell biosensors for remote environmental monitoring.

Abstract

1. SUMMARYA bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuit (BBIC) is anovel whole-cell biosensor that combines the environmentalmonitoring capabilities of genetically engineered biolu-minescent micro-organisms (bioreporters) with optical appli-cation-specific integrated circuits. A BBIC device consistsof bioreporters sustained within a micro-environment, theintegrated circuit microluminometer, and a light-tightenclosure. The bioreporter typically contains the luxCDABEreporter genes encoding the enzymes required for biolumin-escence. In the presence of a targeted analyte, a gene(transcriptional) regulatory system induces the expressionof the luxCDABE genes. Analytical benchmark data forexposure of the bioreporter Pseudomonas fluorescens 5RLto salicylate was determined using a flow-through testsystem. The detection limit (after a 45 min exposure) wasca 50 lgl