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.
Highlights
Heavy metals, including cadmium and mercury, are metals with atomic masses between those of copper and lead
Conventional methods of heavy metal measurement are inductively coupled with plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS)
Available whole-cell biosensor (WCB) have various limitations, such as a low detection range, which is not suitable for the detection of toxic concentrations to humans, detection of only one or two targets, and the necessity for extra expensive instruments or equipment. Using these WCBs, metals in the concertation range that is toxic to humans could be detected using luminescent metal-sensing strains; this range covered the concentrations considered safe in edible fish in Korea, suggesting that these WCBs could be used by fishery workers
Summary
Heavy metals, including cadmium and mercury, are metals with atomic masses between those of copper and lead. Heavy metals were detected in the soil of woodlands, grasslands, and farmlands in Suohuangcang National Wetland Park [2]. This kind of contamination can affect food, like fish, crops, and water. Conventional methods of heavy metal measurement are inductively coupled with plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). These methods require laborious sample pretreatment (e.g., decomposition of nitric acid at a high temperature), expensive instruments, and skilled technicians [6,7].
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