Original scientific paper
Research of marine isolates in development of biosensors for environmental pollutants
Trupti Gokhale
; Department of Biotechnology, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Almas Wali
; Department of Biotechnology, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Shailee Parikh
; Department of Biotechnology, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Neeru Sood
; Department of Biotechnology, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Abstract
Bioluminescence is a phenomenon exhibited by various organisms like marine bacteria, glow worms, fireflies, anglerfish, jelly fish, etc. These organisms can produce and emit light. Bioluminescence is a natural process of energy release in the form of emitted light. The organisms produce chemicals, luciferin, which is a pigment and an enzyme luciferase. Luciferin reacts with oxygen to release energy in the form of light with the help of enzyme luciferase. The reaction requires energy in the form of ATP. In bacteria, the bioluminescence is controlled by a set of genes called Lux operon. In the present work Vibrio spps. have been isolated from the surface of fresh squids. The bioluminescence exhibited by these bacteria was quantitated using the luminescence mode of the spectrophotometer. The bioluminescence exhibited by the bacteria was studied during its growth and found to be a maximum of 30 hours. The circadian cycle exhibited by these bacteria was also studied. The bioluminescence was observed to decrease in the presence of water pollutants like heavy metal ions, complex aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides. Since the genes (lux operon) controlling bioluminescence are sensitive to presence of pollutants, the construction of biosensors using these genes could have great application.
Keywords
Vibrio; bioluminescence; circadian cycle; water pollutants; biosensors
Hrčak ID:
78565
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2012.
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