Discrimination of bacteria from Jamaican bauxite soils using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Abstract

Soil bacteria are sensitive to ecological change and can be assessed to gauge anthropogenic influences and ecosystem health. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the focus on new technologies that can be applied to the evaluation of soil quality. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a promising technique that has been used for the investigation and characterization of explosives, solids, liquids, gases, biological and environmental samples. In this study, bacteria from un-mined and a chronosequence of reclaimed bauxite soils were isolated on Luria-Bertani agar media. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of the bacterial 16S rDNA, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis were applied to each isolated soil bacteria from the sample sites resulting in the identification and classification of the organisms. Femtosecond LIBS performed on the isolated bacteria showed atomic and ionic emission lines in the spectrum containing inorganic elements such as sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), zinc (Zn), and calcium (Ca). Principal component analysis and partial least squares regression analysis were performed on the acquired bacterial spectra demonstrating that LIBS has the potential to differentiate and discriminate among bacteria in the un-mined and reclaimed chronosequence of bauxite soils.

Quantification of total carbon in soil using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: a method to correct interference lines

“…A qualitative analysis of the LIBS emission spectrum provides a fingerprint of the sample with respect to its elemental composition [14]. LIBS has been successfully employed for qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples of very diverse nature and origin, including soils, to determine the content of C, various elements, and pollutants [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Also, a number of techniques, such as dual-pulse excitation, have been used to improve the sensitivity [18] and spectral resolution [27] of LIBS.…”

Recent advances in the use of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as a rapid point-of-care pathogen diagnostic

“…Currently, the size of our LIBS spectrum (>50,000 channels) precludes its use without variable down-selection. The use of other chemometric algorithms, including principal component analysis (PCA) 27 and neural network (NN) 21 analysis is also still reported in the literature.…”

“…(2011) LIBS can differentiate and discriminate among bacteria in the un-mined and reclaimed chronosequence of bauxite soils, useful for the evaluation of soil quality and soil chemical alteration 27. Bacillus atrophaeus spores and Escherichia coli are identifiable on a variety of testing backgrounds within a variety of residue mixtures of similar biological confusant material 7.…”

Importance of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Biomedical Applications: A Comprehensive Review

“…In the mining or environmental remediation industry, it has been shown that fs-LIBS can be used to discriminate inter-and intra-site differences in soil bacteria (at both the species and strain level) isolated from mining sites as an indicator of environmental soil quality. 94 All these results, taken together, suggest that the use of a LIBS technology is feasible for the rapid detection and diagnostic identification of pathogenic bacteria with high sensitivity.…”