Flow-through real time bacterial biosensor for toxic compounds in water

Abstract

A flow-through fiber-optic-based bacterial monitoring system for online monitoring of toxic pollutants in water has been developed. Two bacterial strains containing fusions of recA (DNA damage) and grpE (heat-shock) promoters to the lux operon (CDABE) were immobilized on a fiber optic and tested for their ability to detect pollutants in flowing tap water and surface water. Conditions for running the system for 24 h were optimized and first experiments with the system show (1-h) response times and response heights similar to the previous static systems. Responses were related to the doses and the sensitivity is good (comparable to static systems), but needs to be increased to be able to monitor whether also the low guideline values are exceeded by pollutants. 24-h measurements in tap water demonstrate the ability of the device to run for such a time period, but in river water loss of functionality of the bacteria was observed. This flow-through fiber-optic-based monitoring system has proven to be a useful next step in the development of a simple on-line real time sensor for relevant human toxicants in flowing water.