Abstract.
Using a newly identified organomercury lyase gene (merB3) expression system from TnMERI1, the mercury resistance transposon first found in Gram-positive bacteria, a dual-purpose system to detect and remove organomercurial contamination was developed. A plasmid was constructed by fusing the promoterless luxAB genes as bioluminescence reporter genes downstream of the merB3 gene and its operator/promoter region. Another plasmid, encoding mer operon genes from merR1 to merA, was also constructed to generate an expression regulatory protein, MerR1, and a mercury reductase enzyme, MerA. These two plasmids were transformed into Escherichia coli cells to produce a biological system that can detect and remove environmental organomercury contamination. Organomercurial compounds, such as neurotoxic methylmercury at nanomolar levels, were detected using the biomonitoring system within a few minutes and were removed during the next few hours.
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Narita, .M., Yamagata, .T., Ishii, .H. et al. Simultaneous detection and removal of organomercurial compounds by using the genetic expression system of an organomercury lyase from the transposon TnMERI1 . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 59, 86–90 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-0946-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-0946-3