Where microbiology meets microengineering: design and applications of reporter bacteria.
Bacteria have long been the targets for genetic manipulation, but more recently they have been synthetically designed to carry out specific tasks. Among the simplest of these tasks is chemical compound and toxicity detection coupled to the production of a quantifiable reporter signal. In this Review, we describe the current design of bacterial bioreporters and their use in a range of assays to measure the presence of harmful chemicals in water, air, soil, food or biological specimens. New trends for integrating synthetic biology and microengineering into the design of bacterial bioreporter platforms are also highlighted.
van der Meer
Jan Roelof
JR
University of Lausanne, Department of Fundamental Microbiology, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. janroelof.vandermeer@unil.ch
Belkin
Shimshon
S
D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified
D004785:Environmental Pollutants