Design and Development of Biosensors for the Detection of Heavy Metal Toxicity

Table 7

Examples of recombinant bacteria for specific heavy metal detection.

Biorecognition element		Metal ion/detection limit	Linear range	Detection method	References
Promoter/reporter gene	Host microorganism
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(6)	(7)
	Bacteria
Ars pR773/lacZ	Escherichia coli	As^3+/50 𝜇M; Sb^3+/1 fM	𝜇M-mM; fM-𝜇M	Chemiluminescence	[73]
CUP 1/lacZ	Saccharomyces cerevisiae	Cu^2+	16.0 –32.0 mg/L	Amperometry/ −0.6 V versus Ag/AgCl	[80]
pMOL 90 + Tn4431/luxCDABE	Alcaligenes eutrophus (AE1239)	Cu^2+/1 𝜇M	0–250 𝜇M	Bioluminescence	[81]
cadA and cad C/lucFF	Staphylococcus aureus (RN4220)	Cd^2+/10 nM; Pb^2+/33 nM; Sb^2+/1 nM	10 nM1𝜇M; 33 nM– 330 𝜇M; 1 nM–330 nM	Bioluminescence	[82]
mer /lux	Escherichia coli (CM 2624)	Hg^2+		Bioluminescence	[83]
merR/luxFF	Escherichia coli (S30)	Hg^2+		Luminescence	[84]
merR/luxFF	Escherichia coli (MC 1061)	Hg^2+		Luminescence	[85]
−/DsRed-GFP	Escherichia coli (DH5α)	Cu^2+/45 nM		Fluorescence	[86]
−/lux	Burkholderia sp (RASC c2)	Zn^2+/1.7 𝜇g/mL; Cu^2+/0.09 𝜇g/mL		Bioluminescence	[70]
cad/rs-GFP	Escherichia coli (DH5α)	Cd^2+/0.1 nmol/L; Pb^2+/10 nmol/L; Sb^3+/0.1 nmol/L		Fluorescence	[87]
−/eGFP205C	Escherichia coli (K12), Caenorhabditis elegans	Hg^2+		Fluorescence	[88]
copA/lux	Escherichia coli (W3110)	Cu^2+, Ag^+, Au^3+		Bioluminescence	[89]
	Algae
Tetraselmis chuii (Prasinophyceae)/CPE		Cu^2+/4.6 10^−10M	5 10^−8–10^−6 M	Amperometry/ −0.4 V versus Ag/AgCl	[90]
Chlorella vulgaris		Cd^2+		Synchronous-scan Spectrofluorimetry	[91]
AlkP from Chlorella vulgaris/Pt		Cd^2+, Zn^2+/10 ppb		Conductometry	[75]
Phormidium sp./CPE		Pb^2+/2.5 10^−8 M	5 10^−8– 2 10^−5 M	CV, DPSV	[92]
	Yeast cell
Rhodotorula mucilaginosa/CPE		Cu^2+	10^−7–10^−5 M	CV, DPSV	[93]
	Fungi
Rhizopus arrhizus/CPE		Pb^2+/0.5 10^−8 M	10^−7– 1.25 10^−5 M	CV, DPSV	[94]
Metal-binding protein
Synthetic phytochelatin (EC)/Au		Hg^2+, Cd^2+, Pb^2+, Cu^2+	1 fM–10 mM	capacitance	[68]
GST-SmtA/Au		Hg^2+		capacitance	[83]
GST-SmtA/Au		Hg^2+, Cd^2+, Cu^2+, Zn^2+/ 10^−15 M		capacitance	[6, 95]
MerR/Au		Hg^2+, Cd^2+, Cu^2+, Zn^2+/10^−15 M		capacitance	[6, 95]
Cytocrom c3 from Desulfomicrobium norvegicum/GCE		Cr^6+/0.2 mg/L		Amperometry/−0,53 V versus SCE	[96]
Escherichia coli (NCIMB 8277)/SPE		Hg^2+/1 ppm		Conductometry	[78]
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans/O2 Clark electrode		Cr^3+	2 10^−5–40 10^−5 M	Amperometry/—	[97]
Circinella sp./CPE		Cu^2+/5.4 10^−8M(0.0034 mg/L)	5 10^−7 – 1 10^−5M Cu^2+(0.032–0.635 mg/L)	DPSV	[65]
CUP1 gene from Saccharomyces		Cu^2+	16–32 mg/L	Amperometry/−0.6 V versus Ag/AgCl	[80]
Cerevisiae—fused to lacZ gene from
Escherichia coli/O2 Clark electrode
Escherichia coli; (K-12)-(PAH-PSS)3—ITO		Hg^2+/10^−12 M	10^−12–10^−3 M	Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy	[98]
Bacillus sphaericus; MTCC 5100/ NH4^+-ISE		Ni^2+/100 ppm or 0.044 ppm in food	0.03–0.68 nM	Potentiometry	[99]

CPE = carbon paste electrode; CV = cyclic voltammetry, DPSV = differential pulse stripping voltammetry, GCE = glassy carbon electrode; ISE = ion selective electrode; ITO = indium-tin-oxide glass electode; lucFF = firefly luciferase; PAH = poly(allylamine hydrochlorure); PSS = poly(styrene sulfonate); rs-GFP = red-shifted green fluorescent protein; SCE = saturated calomel electrode, SPE = screen-printing electrode.