Review
Recent advances in biosensor techniques for environmental monitoring

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2005.12.067Get rights and content

Abstract

Biosensors for environmental applications continue to show advances and improvements in areas such as sensitivity, selectivity and simplicity. In addition to detecting and measuring specific compounds or compound classes such as pesticides, hazardous industrial chemicals, toxic metals, and pathogenic bacteria, biosensors and bioanalytical assays have been designed to measure biological effects such as cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, biological oxygen demand, pathogenic bacteria, and endocrine disruption effects. This article is intended to discuss recent advances in the area of biosensors for environmental applications.

Introduction

Monitoring of contaminants in the air, water and soil is an instrumental component in understanding and managing risks to human health and the environment. Given this requirement as well as the time and cost involved in traditional analytical chemical analysis of environmental samples, there is an expanding need for simple, rapid, cost-effective and field portable screening methods. Biosensors and bioanalytical methods appear well suited to complement standard analytical methods for a number of environmental monitoring applications.

The definition for a biosensor is generally accepted in the literature as a self contained integrated device consisting of a biological recognition element (enzyme, antibody, receptor or microorganism) which is interfaced to a chemical sensor (i.e., analytical device) that together reversibly respond in a concentration-dependent manner to a chemical species [1] (Fig. 1).

Although the generally accepted definition of a biosensor requires a direct interface between the biological recognition element and signal transducer, a wide range of bioassay formats including genetically engineered microorganisms that respond in observable ways to target analytes are frequently referred to in the literature as bioreporters or biosensors. Because many of these bioassays show the potential for development as biosensors, these techniques will be included for the purpose of the present discussion.

The use of biosensors for environmental applications has been reviewed in considerable detail [2]. In addition, biosensor technology has been recently reviewed from the perspectives of agricultural monitoring [3], ground water screening [4], ocean monitoring [5] and global environmental monitoring [1]. The intention of this article is to discuss recent advances and trends in the use of biosensors and related bioanalytical assays for environmental monitoring applications. The trends and areas of advancement for various biorecognition elements are summarized in Table 1.

Section snippets

Enzyme-based biosensors

A wide range of biomolecular recognition elements have been used for biosensors for potential environmental applications. These can be organized by structural (e.g., enzyme, antibodies or microorganisms) or functional (e.g., catalytic, affinity or complex cellular functions) characteristics. Enzymes were historically the first molecular recognition elements included in biosensors and continue to be the basis for a significant number of publications reported for biosensors in general as well as

Antibody-based biosensors

Antibody-based biosensors (immunosensors) are inherently more versatile than enzyme-based biosensors in that antibodies have been generated which specifically bind to individual compounds or groups of structurally related compounds with a wide range of affinities. There are, however, several limitations in the use of antibody-based biosensors for environmental monitoring applications. These limitations include the complexity of assay formats and the number of specialized reagents (e.g.,

Cell-based biosensors

Cell-based biosensors for environmental applications can be organized according to cell type. For example, bacteria, yeast, algae and tissue culture cells. Although there are numerous examples of genetic modification to these cell types, genetically engineered bacteria (GEMs) are most often reported in cell-based biosensors [43]. Bacteria have been genetically engineered to construct gene fusions typically composed of a regulatory system (i.e., native promoter) linked to a reporter(s) genes.

DNA biosensors

Due to their wide range of physical, chemical and biological activities, nucleic acids have been incorporated into a wide range of biosensors and bioanalytical assays, many of which show the potential for adaptation to environmental applications. More specifically, as previously mentioned in this review DNA has been used to measure Pb2+ by virtue of its catalytic activity [25], [26]. DNA and PNA have also been used to link immunochemicals to specific locations in DNA chip arrays by means of

Receptor-based biosensors

Receptor-based biosensor systems have the inherent advantage in that any detrimental environmental pollutant that will bind to the receptor at physiologically relevant concentrations can potentially be measured. Thus, these systems can be used to screen for a wide range structurally divers pollutants with a similar mechanism of toxicity.

Recent advances for receptor-based biosensors for environmental applications have focused on the human estrogen receptor-α. Development of these assay systems

Future directions

Biosensors for potential environmental applications continue to show advances in areas such as genetic modification of enzymes and microorganisms, improvement of recognition element immobilization and sensor interfaces, and introduction of improved operational formats and unique environmental applications. The use of genetically modified AChE in biosensors has significantly increased their sensitivity to inhibition by OP pesticides [6], [7], [8]. Furthermore, genetic modification shows the

Acknowledgement

The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development has funded and managed the research described here.

References (90)

  • S. Rodriguez-Mozaz et al.

    Talanta

    (2005)
  • M.N. Velasco-Garcia et al.

    Biosyst. Eng.

    (2003)
  • S. Rodriguez-Mozaz et al.

    Trends Anal. Chem.

    (2005)
  • S. Kroger et al.

    Trends Biotechnol.

    (2005)
  • P.R.B. de Oliveira Marques et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • B. Bucur et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2005)
  • D. Shan et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • H.-C. Tsai et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2003)
  • K. Anitha et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • B. Bucur et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • A. Vakurov et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • K.A. Law et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • E. Dempsey et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • H.-C. Tsai et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • B.B. Rodriguez et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • C. Michel et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2003)
  • A.M. Aiken et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2003)
  • Y. Lu et al.

    Biosens. Bioelectron.

    (2003)
  • R.S. Freire et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2002)
  • C.A. Rowe-Taitt et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2000)
  • A.Y. Rubina et al.

    Anal. Biochem.

    (2005)
  • J. Tschmelak et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • J. Tschmelak et al.

    Biosens. Bioelectron.

    (2005)
  • K.L. Ewalt et al.

    Anal. Biochem.

    (2001)
  • K. Kroger et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2002)
  • K.A. Fahnrich et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2003)
  • T. Endo et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2005)
  • D.R. Shankaran et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • G.R. Marchesini et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2005)
  • E.V. Olsen et al.

    J. Microbiol. Methods

    (2003)
  • S. Ikeno et al.

    Biochem. Bioeng. J.

    (2003)
  • Y. Paitan et al.

    Anal. Biochem.

    (2004)
  • E. Berno et al.

    Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf.

    (2004)
  • A. Rothert et al.

    Anal. Biochem.

    (2005)
  • J.H. Lee et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • C. Baumstark-Khan et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2003)
  • J.-C. Cho et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • C.J. Taylor et al.

    Anal. Biochem.

    (2004)
  • T. Petanen et al.

    Chemosphere

    (2003)
  • O.A. Ogunseitan et al.

    Soil Biol. Biochem.

    (2000)
  • Y.H. Lanyon et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • J.-W. Choi et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2005)
  • A. Yamasaki et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • L. Campanella et al.

    Water Res.

    (2000)
  • M. Altamirano et al.

    Biosens. Bioeletron.

    (2004)
  • Cited by (240)

    • Fundamentals of bio-electrochemical sensing

      2023, Chemical Engineering Journal Advances
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text