Making bio-sense of toxicity: new developments in whole-cell biosencors
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Bacterial whole-cell biosensors are very useful for toxicity measurements of various samples. Semi-specific biosensors, containing fusions of stress-regulated promoters and reporter genes, have several advantages over the traditional, general biosensors that are based on constitutively expressed reporter genes. Furthermore, semi-specific biosensors are constantly being refined to lower their sensitivity and, in combination, are able to detect a wide range of toxic agents. However, the requirement for a positive response of these biosensors to toxicants can result in false-negative responses. The application of in situ inoculation and single-cell detection, combined with the introduction of new reporter genes and refined detection equipment, could lead to the extensive use of semi-specific, stress-responsive biosensors for toxicity estimations in the future.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Current Opinion in Biotechnology |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 11-16 |
ISSN | 0958-1669 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2006 |
ID: 1122098