title: Detection of organomercurials with sensor bacteria.
abstract: Mercury and its organic compounds, especially methylmercury, are hazardous compounds that concentrate in biota via biomagnification and cause severe neurological disorders in animals. In this paper, a recombinant whole-cell bacterial sensor for the detection of the organic compounds of mercury was constructed. The sensor carries firefly luciferase gene as a reporter under the control of the mercury-inducible regulatory part of broad spectrum mer operon from pDU1358. In addition, a gene-encoding organomercurial lyase (an enzyme necessary for cleavage of the mercury-carbon bond) was coexpressed in the sensor strain. The sensitivity of the sensor was evaluated on some environmentally important organomercurial compounds. The lowest detectable concentrations were 0.2 nM (50 ng/L), 1 nM (0.34 microg/L), and 10 microM (2.3 mg/L) for methylmercury chloride, phenylmercury acetate, and dimethylmercury, respectively. The sensor responded also to inorganic mercury and, therefore, using the sensor described here together with sensor bacteria responding only to inorganic mercury, it should be possible to characterize the mercury contamination, for example, in environmental samples.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ivask
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hakkila
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001517:Coleoptera; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics; D008190:Lyases; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009941:Organomercury Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009941:Organomercury Compounds; D008156:Luciferases; D008190:Lyases; C097247:MerB protein, Bacteria; D008628:Mercury