INVESTIGADORES
CHECA Susana Karina
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
SENSITIVE WHOLE-CELL BIOSENSORS FOR THE DETECTION OF A BROAD-SPECTRUM OF TOXIC METAL IONS
Autor/es:
CERMINATI S; SONCINI FC; CHECA SK (ORADOR)
Lugar:
Rosario
Reunión:
Congreso; 50th Annual Meeting; 2014
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular
Resumen:
Comunicacion oral - Environment pollution with toxic heavy metals emerges mainly as a consequence of anthropogenic activities or improper waste disposal. These pollutants not only affect human health, but also biodiversity, being a matter of world-wide concern. In the last decade, bacterial biosensors emerged as simple and cost-effective alternatives to conventional procedures for detection of contaminants. Moreover, because of their nature, they can easily be used for the construction of portable instruments allowing the screening of environmental samples in the field. In this study, we developed a set of non-selective bacteria biosensors able to detect a broad-spectrum of toxic heavy metals, including lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd), three of the top ten most toxic chemicals according to the World Health Organization. In these devises, the sensor/transduction module is provided by modified versions of the Salmonella Au sensor/transcriptional regulator GolS, while a GolS-controlled fluorescent reporter construction supplies the output signal. These biosensors detect the presence of any of these metals in aqueous solutions in a single measure and with high sensitivity under laboratory conditions, even when more than one metal is preset in the sample. These studies can be easily applied as a primary screening tool for the detectionof metal pollution in drinking-water or aquatic ecosystems.