S. Ramanathan et al., BACTERIA-BASED CHEMILUMINESCENCE SENSING SYSTEM USING BETA-GALACTOSIDASE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE ARSR REGULATORY PROTEIN OF THE ARS OPERON, Analytica chimica acta, 369(3), 1998, pp. 189-195
A highly sensitive and selective sensing system for antimonite and ars
enite was developed based on genetically engineered bacteria harboring
the plasmid pBGD23. In this plasmid, arsR, the gene encoding for the
ArsR regulatory protein of the ars operon, is fused to lacZ, the gene
encoding for the reporter enzyme beta-galactosidase. The expression of
beta-galactosidase in E. coli strains bearing pBGD23 is controlled by
ArsR, and this can be related to the concentration of antimonite/arse
nite employed to induce the production of beta-galactosidase in the ba
cteria. ArsR has a high specificity for antimonite/arsenite, thus conf
erring the developed sensing system with high selectivity. This was de
monstrated by evaluating several oxoanions and soft metals as potentia
l interferents. The concentration of beta-galactosidase expressed in t
he bacteria was monitored by chemiluminescence. Using this sensing sys
tem, antimonite can be detected at concentrations as low as 10(-15) M.
The importance of the E. coli chromosomal ars operon on the observed
response was evaluated by employing a strain of E. coli where the chro
mosomal ars operon has been deleted. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Al
l rights reserved.