Biomaterial Database

The potential of site-specific recombinases as novel reporters in whole-cell biosensors of pollution. 2003

Paul Hinde, and Jane Meadows, and Jon Saunders, and Clive Edwards

School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZB United Kingdom.

DNA recombinases show some promise as reporters of pollutants providing that appropriate promoters are used and that the apparent dependence of expression on cell density can be solved. Further work is in progress using different recombinases and other promoters to optimize recombinase expression as well as to test these genetic constructs in contaminated environmental samples such as soil and water. It may be that a graded response reflecting pollutant concentration may not be possible. However, they show great promise for providing definitive detection systems for the presence of a pollutant and may be applicable to address the problem of bioavailability of pollutants in complex environments such as soil.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D004784	Environmental Monitoring	The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.	Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D004785	Environmental Pollutants	Substances or energies, for example heat or light, which when introduced into the air, water, or land threaten life or health of individuals or ECOSYSTEMS.	Environmental Pollutant,Pollutant,Pollutants,Pollutants, Environmental,Pollutant, Environmental
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D012988	Soil Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the soil. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.	Microbiology, Soil
D015262	Xenobiotics	Chemical substances that are foreign to the biological system. They include naturally occurring compounds, drugs, environmental agents, carcinogens, insecticides, etc.	Xenobiotic
D015374	Biosensing Techniques	Any of a variety of procedures which use biomolecular probes to measure the presence or concentration of biological molecules, biological structures, microorganisms, etc., by translating a biochemical interaction at the probe surface into a quantifiable physical signal.	Bioprobes,Biosensors,Electrodes, Enzyme,Biosensing Technics,Bioprobe,Biosensing Technic,Biosensing Technique,Biosensor,Electrode, Enzyme,Enzyme Electrode,Enzyme Electrodes,Technic, Biosensing,Technics, Biosensing,Technique, Biosensing,Techniques, Biosensing
D045522	Recombinases	A broad category of enzymes that are involved in the process of GENETIC RECOMBINATION.	Recombinase,Resolvase,Resolvases
D017930	Genes, Reporter	Genes whose expression is easily detectable and therefore used to study promoter activity at many positions in a target genome. In recombinant DNA technology, these genes may be attached to a promoter region of interest.	Reporter Genes,Gene, Reporter,Reporter Gene