Paper Title
Whole-Cell Based Fluorescence Biosensors For Environmental Applications
Abstract
Tonnes of wastes from different industries are discarded into the environment yearly, which leads to transfer of
organic and inorganic pollutants into various water bodies. The detection of these pollutants profoundly relies on
sophisticated equipment such as atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer
(ICP-MS). The integration of whole-cells in optical biosensors provides a good sensitivity and accuracy in screening for
pollutants in the environment. The inhibition of the metabolic activity by whole cells results in the emission of light such as
fluorescence and bioluminescence. This feature is exploited for the development of whole-cell based optical biosensors.
Keywords—bioluminscence, fluorescence, heavy metals, optical biosensors.