Use of Luminescent Bacteria and theLUXGenes for Determination of Water Quality

Abstract Various approaches and technologies that utilize luminescent bacteria for determination of water quality are described. The use of intact luminescent bacteria for analytical purposes has some clear advantages: the light of a single bacterium may reach about 30,000 quanta/s/cell; thus, one can use a simple luminometer to detect light generated by a few hundred cells/mL. Chemophysical and biological factors that affect cell respiration, the rate of protein or lipid synthesis, promptly alter the level of luminescence. The use of freeze‐dried luminescent bacteria for analytical purposes is not different, in practice, from other biochemical tests. Numerous studies described the use of natural luminescent bacteria or recombinantlux‐carrying bacteria for rapid assessment of toxic components in aqueous environments. The commercially available bioassays are described in detail (Microtox, ToxScreen, Mutatox, Vitotox), as well as recent developments in automating toxicity tests for online monitoring. Also described are tests utilizing luminescent bacteria for determination of nutrients in water [such as assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)]. All in all, the bioluminescence tests for detecting water toxicants as well as for measuring elementary nutrients have been shown to be simple, rapid, and relatively inexpensive tools for monitoring water quality.