A LUMINESCENCE-BASED MERCURY BIOSENSOR

A new biosensor for the determination of bioavailable mercury is prese nted. It utilizes firefly luciferase gene as a reporter under the cont rol of the mercury-inducible mer promoter from transposon Tn21 and Esc herichia coli MC1061 as a host organism. The luminescence-based sensor was evaluated for the selectivity and sensitivity of the detection of mercury. The lowest detectable concentration of mercury was 0.1 fM. C admium, zinc, cobalt, copper and manganese ions did not interfere with the measurement even at millionfold concentrations compared to mercur y. The results were, in agreement with the results obtained by a mercu ry-independent luciferase expressing strain which acted as a control s train measuring total toxicity.