Nutrient Detection with Whole-Cell Biosensors

Wang, Yan-Zhai; Christopher, Joseph Kirubaharan; Yong, Yang‐Chun; Zhai, Dan‐Dan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47405-2_110-1

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Methodologies to circumvent these undesired cross-reactivities affecting specificity and/or sensitivity of whole-cell biosensors, exist. They consist (i) in the use of bioreporters combining functional properties of non-specific, semi-specific and/or specific biosensors with the possible accommodation of several reporter genes in a single sensing cell [ 12 , 27 ], (ii) in the reading of a signal output delivered separately by whole-cell biosensors that differ with respect to their specificity level [ 23 ], (iii) in the recourse to biosensors designed for nutrient analysis [ 28 ], or (iv) in the construction of microfluidic device for parallel single-analyte or simultaneous multi-analyte detections by coupling multiplex biosensors [ 7 , 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of Cell Metabolic Activity Sensing by Escherichia coli rrnB P1-lux and Cd Responsive-Lux Biosensors: Time-Resolved Experiments and Mechanistic Modelling

et al. 2022

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Whole-cell bacterial sensors are used in medical/environmental applications to detect chemicals, and to assess medium toxicity or stress. Non-specific constitutive biosensors generally serve the latter purpose, whereas chemical detection is performed with biosensors involving a specific chemical-inducible promoter. Herein, we show that functioning principles of specific and non-specific whole-cell biosensors are not exclusive as both can probe modulations of cell metabolic activity under stressing conditions. The demonstration is based on (i) time-resolved measurements of bioluminescence produced by constitutive rrnB P1-luxCDABE Escherichia coli biosensor in media differing with respect to carbon source, (ii) theoretical reconstruction of the measured signals using a here-reported theory for bioluminescence generated by constitutive cells, (iii) comparison between time-dependent cell photoactivity (reflecting metabolic activity) retrieved by theory with that we reported recently for cadmium-inducible PzntA-luxCDABE E. coli in media of similar compositions. Whereas signals of constitutive and non-constitutive biosensors differ in terms of shape, amplitude and peak number depending on nutritional medium conditions, analysis highlights the features shared by their respective cell photoactivity patterns mediated by the interplay between stringent response and catabolite repressions. The work advocates for the benefits of a theoretical interpretation for the time-dependent response of biosensors to unravel metabolic and physicochemical contributions to the bioluminescence signal.

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