Development and testing of biosensors that quantitatively and specifically detect organic contaminants

This is the final report of a two-year Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The project sought to develop a more sensitive and less expensive method of detecting organic contaminants. Assaying complex environmental samples for organic contaminant content is costly and labor intensive. This often limits extensive testing. Sensitive microbial biosensors that detect specific organic contaminants in complex waste mixtures without prior separation from other waste components have been developed. Some soil microbes degrade organic compounds that contaminate the environment. These bacteria sense minute quantities of particular organic compounds then respond by activating genes encoding enzymes that degrade these molecules. Genetic manipulation of these gene regulatory processes has been employed to develop unique biosensors that detect specific organic compounds using standard biochemical assays. Such biosensors allow rapid, sensitive testing of environmental samples for selected organic contaminants. The cost of biosensor assays is at least 100-fold less than present methods, allowing more rapid and extensive testing and site characterization