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Luminescence-based whole-cell-sensing systems for cadmium and lead using genetically engineered bacteria

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Abstract

Whole-cell-based sensing systems that respond to cadmium and lead ions have been designed and developed using genetically engineered bacteria. These systems take advantage of the ability of certain bacteria to survive in environments polluted with cadmium and lead ions. The bacteria used in this investigation have been genetically engineered to produce reporter proteins in response to the toxic ions. This was achieved by modifying a strain of Escherichia coli to harbor plasmids pYSC1 and pYS2/pYSG1. In these dual-plasmid-based sensing systems, the expression of the reporters β-galactosidase and red-shifted green fluorescent protein (rs-GFP) was controlled by CadC, the regulatory protein of the cad operon. Regulation of the expression of the reporter proteins is related to the amount of cadmium and lead ions employed to induce the bacteria. The bacterial sensing systems were found to respond to cadmium, lead, and zinc ions, and had no significant response to nickel, copper, manganese, and cobalt.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (Grant CHE-9502299) and the National Institutes of Environmental Health (NIEHS with funding provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (1P42ES07380) to SD and United States Public Health Service Grant (AI45428) to BPR. SD is a Lilly Faculty Awardee and a Cottrell Scholar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0055, USA

    Ranjit S. Shetty, Sapna K. Deo, Puja Shah & Sylvia Daunert

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA

    Yan Sun & Barry P. Rosen

Authors
  1. Ranjit S. Shetty
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  2. Sapna K. Deo
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  3. Puja Shah
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  4. Yan Sun
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  5. Barry P. Rosen
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  6. Sylvia Daunert
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Correspondence to Sylvia Daunert.

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Shetty, R.S., Deo, S.K., Shah, P. et al. Luminescence-based whole-cell-sensing systems for cadmium and lead using genetically engineered bacteria. Anal Bioanal Chem 376, 11–17 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-1862-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-1862-9

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