Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection

Biosensors have emerged as new alternatives in environmental toxicity assessment. In the development of biosensors for heavy metals detection in environment, whole cells are highly favored as these cells are able to reflect the real toxicity effects of heavy metals to living organisms. For heavy...

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Main Authors: Teo, Siok Chin, Wong, Ling Shing
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SCIENCEDOMAIN international 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/
http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/1/Whole%20Cell-based%20Biosensors%20for...pdf
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author Teo, Siok Chin
Wong, Ling Shing
author_facet Teo, Siok Chin
Wong, Ling Shing
author_sort Teo, Siok Chin
building INTI Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Biosensors have emerged as new alternatives in environmental toxicity assessment. In the development of biosensors for heavy metals detection in environment, whole cells are highly favored as these cells are able to reflect the real toxicity effects of heavy metals to living organisms. For heavy metals detection, the integration of several types of cells such as bacteria, cyanobacteria, and algae into biosensors development has been widely reported. The usage of other cells such as plant cell, protozoa, and yeast has been reported as well. Although these biosensors are highly sensitive to heavy metals, the detection is still limited to the heavy metals which are bioavailable to the cells. Besides, the response of whole cells to wide range of heavy metals makes them excellent tools for wide spectrum screening but lack of specificity in detection. Whole cells are living entities with complex biochemical processes, which make the optimization of whole cell-based biosensors a tedious process, while maintaining the stability and storability are still challenging tasks. Although naturally occurring cells are highly favored, some reports show that recombinant cells can be a choice with better performance. In this paper, the usage of whole cells in biosensors for heavy metals detection and some of the current issues which are tied to the development of these biosensors are reviewed.
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spelling intimal-3872016-10-05T07:53:01Z http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/ Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection Teo, Siok Chin Wong, Ling Shing TP Chemical technology Biosensors have emerged as new alternatives in environmental toxicity assessment. In the development of biosensors for heavy metals detection in environment, whole cells are highly favored as these cells are able to reflect the real toxicity effects of heavy metals to living organisms. For heavy metals detection, the integration of several types of cells such as bacteria, cyanobacteria, and algae into biosensors development has been widely reported. The usage of other cells such as plant cell, protozoa, and yeast has been reported as well. Although these biosensors are highly sensitive to heavy metals, the detection is still limited to the heavy metals which are bioavailable to the cells. Besides, the response of whole cells to wide range of heavy metals makes them excellent tools for wide spectrum screening but lack of specificity in detection. Whole cells are living entities with complex biochemical processes, which make the optimization of whole cell-based biosensors a tedious process, while maintaining the stability and storability are still challenging tasks. Although naturally occurring cells are highly favored, some reports show that recombinant cells can be a choice with better performance. In this paper, the usage of whole cells in biosensors for heavy metals detection and some of the current issues which are tied to the development of these biosensors are reviewed. SCIENCEDOMAIN international 2014 Article PeerReviewed text en http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/1/Whole%20Cell-based%20Biosensors%20for...pdf Teo, Siok Chin and Wong, Ling Shing (2014) Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection. Annual Research & Review in Biology, 4 (17). pp. 2663-2674. ISSN 2347-565X http://www.sciencedomain.org/issue/514
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Teo, Siok Chin
Wong, Ling Shing
Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title_full Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title_fullStr Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title_full_unstemmed Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title_short Whole Cell-based Biosensors for Environmental Heavy Metals Detection
title_sort whole cell-based biosensors for environmental heavy metals detection
topic TP Chemical technology
url http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/
http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/
http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/387/1/Whole%20Cell-based%20Biosensors%20for...pdf