Detection of hexahydro-1,3-5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) with a microbial sensor

Explosives such as hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) are common contaminants found in soil and groundwater at military facilities worldwide, but large-scale monitoring of these contaminants at low concentrations is difficult. Biosensors that incorporate aptamers with high affinity and sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of general and applied microbiology Vol. 65; no. 3; pp. 145 - 150
Main Authors Eberly, Jed O., Mayo, Michael L., Carr, Matthew R., Crocker, Fiona H., Indest, Karl J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Japan Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation 01.01.2019
Subjects
aptamer
biosensor
riboswitch
riboswitch
aptamer
biosensor
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Summary:Explosives such as hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) are common contaminants found in soil and groundwater at military facilities worldwide, but large-scale monitoring of these contaminants at low concentrations is difficult. Biosensors that incorporate aptamers with high affinity and specificity for a target are a novel way of detecting these compounds. This work describes novel riboswitch-based biosensors for detecting RDX. The performance of the RDX riboswitch was characterized in Escherichia coli using a range of RDX concentrations from 0–44 μmol l–1. Fluorescence was induced at RDX concentrations as low as 0.44 μmol l–1. The presence of 4.4 μmol l–1 RDX induced an 8-fold increase in fluorescence and higher concentrations did not induce a statistically significant increase in response.
ISSN:0022-1260
1349-8037
DOI:10.2323/jgam.2018.08.001