A new biosensor for the determination of bioavailable mercury is presented. It utilizes firefly luciferase gene as a reporter under the control of the mercury-inducible mer promoter from transposon Tn21 and Escherichia coli MC1061 as a host organism. The luminescence-based sensor was evaluated for the selectivity and sensitivity of the detection of mercury. The lowest detectable concentration of mercury was 0.1 fM. Cadmium, zinc, cobalt, copper and manganese ions did not interfere with the measurement even at millionfold concentrations compared to mercury. The results were, in agreement with the results obtained by a mercury-independent luciferase expressing strain which acted as a control strain measuring total toxicity.
展开▼
